Composing a rug is like having a dialogue with someone on the other side of the world

A custom rug is a co-signed work of art. The project begins with a design and a palette, then passes into the hands of the tufters of Bhadohi, India, who translate each intention into wool and silk. Between the envisioned color and the actual knot, a whole savoir-faire adjusts, corrects, and refines.

We often imagine a custom rug as a simple order: you choose, you approve, you receive. The reality of the workshop is more dynamic. Between the moment a pattern is drawn on a screen and the moment it appears, hand-tufted in New Zealand wool, a conversation unfolds. It spans several thousand kilometers, several languages, several crafts. At one end, a person designing from their home. At the other, the tufters of Bhadohi, in Uttar Pradesh, the historical capital of knotted and tufted rugs in India. In between, a project that becomes more precise as it passes from hand to hand.