8' x 10' Chobi Oriental Rug | Vegetable Dyed Wool, All-Over Floral | Hand-Knotted in India

This is a brand new, never used 8' x 10' Chobi rug, hand-knotted in wool on a cotton foundation and dyed entirely with vegetable and plant-based colors. The field is a deep raspberry red carrying an all-over floral design, framed by a wide salmon rose border and slim ivory guard stripes. The pile sits at 3/8", low enough to slide under a dining table or a door without fuss, and the wool has the dry, slightly matte handle that vegetable dyed weaving is known for, which is exactly what allows the color to soften and burnish rather than fade. At 8' x 10' it is the most useful footprint in the house, and buyers cross-shopping other 8 x 10 area rugs will notice how much drawing is packed into this one. Every rug ships with a certificate of authenticity confirming it is hand-knotted.

Design and Motifs

The field is drawn as a repeating lattice of large serrated palmettes and shield-shaped blossoms, each one outlined in charcoal and filled with a second layer of smaller petals, set on a loose framework of curling vines and lanceolate leaves. Between the big forms sit scattered rosettes, small buds and single leaf sprays, so no part of the ground is left empty but nothing feels crowded. The repeat shifts row by row rather than stacking, which keeps the eye moving across the full 10' length. The main border carries alternating 8 petal rosettes and crowned cartouche palmettes joined by scrolling leafy meanders, and it is contained by two narrow ivory guard bands running a simple march of upright flowerheads. Corners resolve cleanly, with the border pattern turning the angle instead of being cut off, which is the mark of a properly drawn cartoon and one of the details worth checking on any hand-knotted Oriental rug.

A Vegetable Dyed Palette of Raspberry Red and Ivory

Color is the whole point of a Chobi. The ground is a madder-toned raspberry red that abrash gently from one pass of the weave to the next, going a shade cooler and plummier in some bands and warmer in others, which is what natural dye lots do and what synthetic dye never does. Against it the motifs are worked in soft antique gold, pale ivory, oatmeal, dusty sage green and a muted rose, with fine charcoal outlining that gives every palmette its edge without hardening the overall effect. The wide border steps down into a lighter salmon rose, a full tone softer than the field, so the frame reads as a halo rather than a hard stop, and the ivory guard stripes and ivory fringe brighten the perimeter. The finished palette is warm and slightly faded looking from the first day, which makes it easy to live with next to cream walls, walnut furniture, brass and worn leather.

Made in India: Where Fine Chobi Weaving Happens Today

Chobi, from the word for wood, refers to weaving colored with natural dyes drawn from plants, roots, bark and indigo, and the great majority of the best examples are now made in India. Say that plainly: India is where most of the world's good contemporary hand-knotted rugs come from, with workshops running hand-spun wool, natural dye vats and full-size cartoons at a standard that simply is not matched by machine or power-loom production anywhere. This piece is knotted row by row on a cotton warp and weft, each knot tied by hand and beaten down before the next row goes in, then sheared to a level 3/8" pile and washed to open up the luster in the wool. The back shows clean, even knot rows and the ends are finished with a hand-tied ivory fringe. It is a new rug with no wear of any kind, built to be walked on for decades.