Shop All Rugs

Every rug here was knotted by hand, which means every rug here exists once. There is no second one in the back in a different size. That single fact decides how you should shop: not by finding the piece you want and then asking for your dimensions, but by fixing the dimensions first and looking at what was woven to fit them.

Start with the size, not the picture

The most common mistake is to fall for a rug and then discover it is a foot short in the room it was bought for. Measure the floor first, then browse inside the size band that fits it. The five bands run from 3x5 through 4x6, 6x9 and 8x10 up to 12x18. A hand-knotted rug is rarely exactly its nominal size, so the band is the useful unit, not the label.

Then the shape the floor actually wants

Most rooms want a rectangle and most rugs are one. The exceptions are worth knowing: a corridor or a kitchen galley wants a runner, a small square hall wants a square, and a round under a round table is one of the few places where matching the furniture is right rather than timid. All the shapes sit together, including the ovals and the occasional octagon.

Origin tells you how it was made

Where a rug was woven decides its structure more than its pattern does. Persian weaving covers the widest range of fineness; Turkish and Caucasian work leans geometric; Indian and Pakistani workshops reproduce classical designs at a scale nowhere else matches. The origins are laid out separately.

Material decides where it can live

Almost everything here has a wool pile, which is what makes a rug survive a hallway. Silk is finer and far more fragile underfoot, and belongs in a bedroom or on a wall rather than under a dining table. The materials page sets out what each one is actually for.

Age is a condition, not a grade

A rug from the 1950s is not better or worse than one woven last year, it is different. Older wool has usually settled into a softer, less uniform colour, and the pile has been walked flat and even. Vintage, semi-antique and new explains the three bands and what each one looks like in the hand.