The Thread of Creation: The Art of Handknotted Wool Rugs

|January 15, 2025
Weaving with the Persian knot, a handknotted carpet in wool with blue and cream, a work in progress on the loom.
A handknotted rug by Orley Shabahang awaits its next knots

In the crafting of our fine handknotted wool rugs, throughout the process a variety of artisans demonstrate their mastery. With the wool harvested, spun, and dyed, only the final step remains: the delicate tying of the knots. This carefully honed artistic process, perfected over thousands of years, allows the boon of the whole team’s expertise to come together into something extraordinary. Read on to learn more.

Just as a sturdy house requires a solid foundation to last for centuries, so does a fine rug. The artistry of these functional pieces of art depends on their warp and weft, a vertical and horizontal grid of threads. The warp, the threads running vertically upon the loom, must be carefully run, properly spaced with the perfect level of tension. Running perpendicular to the warp, the weft holds securely in place the knots tied directly onto the warp. These skills require extraordinary precision passed down through generations.

Warp and weft guided by skilled artisans can be seen through the back of this handwoven, fine Persian carpet in the works
The foundation, the warp and weft, of a carpet being handknotted

The Rhythm of Handknotted Wool Rugs

Artisans now sit before the loom, the warp already in place. They tie a row of knots, then run the weft horizontally across, repeating the process row by row. The pressure of the weft upon the knots below must be perfect, for a tight but pliable finished product. Weavers work from a diagram called a cartoon, which guides them through the entire design. Overlaid on top of a grid, colors occupying each square of instruct the weavers of the proper colors. A meditative rhythm forms as hands reach up to skeins of wool to pull down strands. Dexterous fingers tie the wool onto the warp, before cutting the yarn in one fluid motion using a blade held in the off hand. Tie, cut, tie, cut until the cartoon calls for a new color and the hands reach back up to the panoply of vegetable-dyed yarns of all colors hanging above.

An artisan reaches to skeins of all natural totally organic pure wool for handknotting this functional work of art
Artisan craftsmanship as a weaver reaches for the shade of wool to knot

For weeks, these craftsmen and craftswomen toil over these labors of love. Each day, the weavers return to the loom and switch seats with each other. Even with identical techniques and consistent tension, rotating ensures uniformity, preventing discrepancies from developing over thousands of knots. Such minute specifications make an enormous difference, a fact that Orley Shabahang weaves into its handknotted wool rugs. We set out to make our rugs not with haste or soulless mass production. Through the pursuit of this art in its purest form, we capture the spirit of the communities that honor the craft and do our part to creating a sustainable future through our organic production.