How Rugs Are Made: Behind The Scenes Journey Of Handmade Luxury Designer Rugs

9/2/2023

What Is The Process Of Making A Rug?

As an interior designer who now also designs rugs, I have become fascinated by the art of rug making. The journey from the sourcing of materials, through to the weaving and washing, and then to the final product is nothing short of amazing, and I’m thrilled to take you on the behind the scenes journey of how our luxury designer rugs are expertly made in India.

The Materials Used To Make Luxury Rugs

Our luxury designer rugs are made from the finest materials, using 100% New Zealand wool. The wools are carefully sourced and undergo a meticulous preparation process to ensure that each rug is made to the highest standards.

New Zealand wool is one of the most popular materials used in the making of luxury designer rugs. It’s considered to be the whitest and cleanest wool in the world, in addition to being renowned for its luxuriously soft texture, extraordinary quality, it can be dyed to produce a wide range of rich colours, and it produces extremely durable yet comfortable rugs which are suitable for high traffic interior spaces.

New Zealand wool used for making rugs kept stored under a canopy

New Zealand Wool In Storage Ready To Use To Make Rugs

The Rug Design Process

The design of a luxury designer rug is just as important as the materials that go into it.

All of our rug designs come from the same designs we use for our wallpapers and incorporate the same Neuro Design principles. We work with our customers to find out their size and shape requirements. We’ll then send our customer a ‘design proof’ for confirmation, and once confirmed we then send a ‘tech sheet’ to our rug manufacturer which indicates all the design and technical information.

173NASH Nevik colourway rug tech sheet with pom colours and pile of wool

Example Of A 'Tech Sheet' For A Sample Of Our 173NASH - Nevik Rug

Preparing And Dyeing The Wool

Now all the design details and specifications are finalised the yarns can be prepared and dyed. Dying the New Zealand wool is a carefully executed process through a number of stages to ensure the colours are beautiful, long lasting, and top quality.

Yarn preparation and dyeing part of process of making a luxury handmade rug

One Of The Stages During The Preparation Of The Wool

After being dyed the yarns are hung out to dry in the open air and sun until they are ready for weaving. Being in the sun is important during the drying process as it gives the yarns a special lustre to the colours. Once dry, the yarns are brushed thoroughly to remove any tangles and to smooth them out before weaving.

Gorgeous Red Coloured Wool Is Hung Out To Dry

The rug manufacturer then creates ‘design maps’ of the rug designs. These ‘design maps’ precisely inform the weavers of how the designs should look (in a grid format) as well as showing what parts of the design are which colours (as you can see small samples of the coloured yarns are tied to the corresponding key colour on the design maps).

Rug design maps for some rug samples on top of the piles of different coloured wool

Example Of Some Design Maps. These Ones Where For Some Rug Samples

The Weaving Process: How Long Does It Take To Make A Rug?

The weaving of a luxury designer rug on the loom is an intricate process that requires a great deal of skill and patience. Our rugs are made using the hand-knotting method. Hand knotting is carefully done by the skilled artisans, who with precision tightly knot each tiny piece of the design with patience and craftsmanship, each row at a time, to ensure the rug is heirloom quality. Hand knotted rugs produce luxurious quality, with better crisper details, and are considered to be more durable.

The experienced weaver plays a crucial role in bringing the rug design to life, and it can take several months (dependant on rug size) to complete a single rug due to the precise nature of the hand knotting process. The exceptional quality of the finished rug makes the wait completely worth it!

There are different construction techniques that can be used to produce rugs, and our rugs are mainly produced with a ‘cut pile’ construction technique, although 1 collection (Rokusho) uses ‘loop pile’ to create a more textured effect, and 1 collection (Glyph) combines both of these techniques together to create a wonderful play with depth and texture.

Our Glyph - Giza Rug In The Early Stages Of Being Hand Knotted On The Loom

Washing The Rugs

There are a few stages to the rug washing process. Once the rug has been weaved and comes off the loom, it’s ready for its initial washing. The importance of washing the rugs at this stage is to ensure the dyes have bound strongly to the yarn, as well as removing any excess wool and dust etc. The rugs are laid flat on the concrete floor, in the specialist washing area, and then have fresh water poured over them. The rug washers forcefully push the water through the rug pile using a sharpened edge wooden panel instrument (called a Pharwa).

The washing also helps soften the wool of the rugs, and it’s during this stage that the final outcome of how good these rugs look begins to show through.

The next stage is practically tied into the previous washing stage, and has all the same benefits, but during this stage the hand washing helps tighten the fibres further for a better colour and finish, and enhances the lustre of the wool.

Once washed, the next step is to stretch the rug. It’s pinned down with iron nails onto a frame and left to dry and stretch out for a few days. This is done to tighten the weave and remove any wrinkles, and also to stretch the rug to the right dimensions and to make sure the rug lays flat on the floor.

The Rugs Get Washed In A Specialised Rug Washing Area

The Cutting And Clipping Process

There are 2 separate stages here.

Clipping stage 1 - Involves the rug getting laid out flat whilst the pile height is evenly trimmed gradually, section by section, to the specified height using a shearing machine, to reveal the beauty of the final design.

Clipping the rugs to the correct pile height

Clipping The Pile Of The Rug To Its Correct Height

Clipping stage 2 - The final stages of the finishing process involves the rug getting clipped meticulously by hand using scissors. This final hand clipping neatens out the design details and can also involve the skilful task of carving out specific areas of the design.

Hand Clipping And Carving Puts The Finishing Touches To The Rugs

Finishing And Quality Control: What Makes A Rug High Quality?

The finished rug gets bound around the edges by hand, to neatly secure it, using a needle and matching yarn colour. The end result is a luxurious designer rug, which also looks beautiful on the underside, and which showcases the individual knots and exemplary craftsmanship.

The Finished Rugs Get Bound Around Their Edges

After the rug is finished, it undergoes a final checking process before packing and shipping, to ensure that it meets the high standards of a luxury designer rug. This includes a thorough inspection to ensure that the rug is free of any defects and that the colours and patterns are consistent throughout.

The End Of The Rug Making Journey

“People are not only liking them, they are loving them. Our artisans have weaved many rugs throughout their lives, but the colour combinations of these rugs are so good that they are feeling happy as they weave them, and most importantly the designs are set in such a way that they are not too complex which is giving a sober appeal to the eyes.” - The feedback we received from the skilled people who make our rugs.

The journey of a handmade luxury designer rug truly is an adventure, as I’m sure you now appreciate, and the end result is a unique and valuable statement piece that can transform any space for years and years. I’m sure there’s a luxury designer rug within our collection that’s perfect for you and your space.

I hope this behind the scenes journey has inspired you to add a rug to your own space so you can experience the beauty and comfort for yourself that only a handmade rug can bring.

See a compilation video of the entire process in the video below.

Interior design, wallpaper, and rug blog Liverpool

We Bring Hospitality Interiors To Life! We're a Liverpool based interior design studio who specialise in the design of hospitality interiors. We can provide our interior design service throughout the UK. We also design 'Simple | Bold | Graphical | Timeless' products in the form of luxury commercial designer wallpaper and luxury handmade designer rugs. Our unique enriching & healthy wallpapers and rugs can be shipped worldwide and used in ANY kind of interior.