Gray Abstract Loom-Woven Wool and Tencel Rug, Zima Series

The gold is the smallest thing on it and the reason to look: a few grains of light gathered at one corner of a drawn threshold, as though a door had come open somewhere off the rug. It is a gray abstract piece from the Zima series, with wool and Tencel® laid over a cotton foundation; the rug runs 200 × 300 cm (6'7" × 9'10"). That threshold is a plain rectangle laid on a gray field that has been worked to look abraded, layer over layer, the way a stone step wears.

01Color, by the light

Around it a flat beige frame restores order. It is a composition about crossing something, and it comes from two lines of Rumi the Zima series keeps returning to. Set under a low table in a large room it holds the center without demanding it, and the gray stays gray under both daylight and a warm bulb, which is more than most grays manage. Two fibers share the pile: wool for the matt, hard-wearing part and Tencel® for the sheen, over a 100% cotton foundation.

02What the yarn is

That mix is why the field can look worn and still catch light — the wool absorbs, the Tencel® returns. It is loom-woven in Kütahya and Uşak: the loom sets the knots and the finishing is done by hand. The tree of life sits inside the frame rather than on display.

03The mark of slow weaving

Deep cleaning is for a workshop; a vacuum covers everything else. Loom-woven in Kütahya and Uşak: wool and Tencel® over a 100% cotton foundation. A rectangular threshold form on an abraded gray field, framed in flat beige. Gold flecks gathered at one corner of the threshold, like light through a gap. 200 × 300 cm (6'7" × 9'10") — a sitting room, or a floor under a large table. Wool gives the matt and the wear; Tencel® gives the light. The tree of life is worked into the frame rather than shown openly. Professional washing. A threshold on a floor is a strange thing to walk over, and that is precisely what it was drawn for.