Red Bamboo Silk Wool Rug
This red bamboo silk wool rug is a hand knotted piece made in India from wool and bamboo silk, measuring 360 x 273 cm. Its field is built from horizontal bands of rust red and cream grey, with fine dashes of cream running through the grey bands. Like many Indian rugs, it is a contemporary design with no fixed centre, so the whole floor reads as one textured surface.
The design up close
The rug has no central medallion and no border. Horizontal bands run edge to edge, alternating deep rust red with wider bands of cream and silver grey. The red bands look smooth and even, while the grey bands are broken up by small cream dashes set in short rows, which gives them a fine, textured surface.
Up close the red bands are not all one shade. Some carry faint darker streaks, and the cream dashes sit in neat rows across each grey band, so the surface reads as woven rather than printed. This red bamboo silk wool rug works well in a room where a plain design would feel too quiet, because the texture does the work that a motif would normally do.
Indian weaving and bamboo silk
India has a long hand-knotted rug tradition, and Agra has been a carpet-weaving centre since at least the 17th century. The Bhadohi and Mirzapur area of Uttar Pradesh is the largest carpet-making region in India. Indian workshops weave many modern and abstract designs, often to order, in a wide range of colours and sizes.
Wool is the most common pile, and some Indian rugs mix wool with silk. Bamboo silk is a viscose fibre, also called rayon, made from bamboo cellulose. It has a silk-like sheen, but it is softer and less resilient than wool, so it suits lower-traffic rooms.
How a red bamboo silk wool rug is made
This red bamboo silk wool rug combines wool with bamboo silk, so the surface mixes a matt wool finish with the sheen of the bamboo silk. Weavers tie each knot by hand on a loom, row after row, then trim the pile level. Turn the rug over and the design shows on the back.
Sizing it for your room
At 360 x 273 cm, this red bamboo silk wool rug covers about 9.8 square metres. Under a three-seat sofa of around 2.2 m, it runs about 70 cm past each end, so the front legs of the sofa and two armchairs can rest on it around a coffee table. Under a dining table of about 240 x 100 cm, it leaves roughly 60 cm at each end and about 87 cm along each side. The rust and cream bands suit timber floors, pale walls and warm leather or linen furnishings.
Looking after your rug
Vacuum it on a suction-only setting, or with the beater bar switched off, so the brush does not pull at the knots. Turn it around every six to twelve months so sun and foot traffic wear it evenly. Blot spills with a clean white cloth and cold water rather than rubbing them in. When it needs a full clean, choose a cleaner who washes handmade rugs by hand.
Put a good underlay beneath it. It stops the rug sliding on timber or tiles, adds cushioning and takes some of the wear off the pile. Moths like wool in dark, quiet spots, such as the part of a rug under a sofa, so vacuum those areas often and lift the furniture now and then.
Rubbing spills can dull bamboo silk, and it needs a cleaner who handles that fibre by hand.
See it before you buy
Visit our showroom at 307 Penshurst St, North Willoughby, open every day from 11 am to 4:30 pm, to see this red bamboo silk wool rug in person. If you would rather judge it in your own room, with your own light and furniture, book an in-home viewing and we will bring a selection to you.
Browse more Indian Rugs, or ask about a custom made rug in your own size and colour. Read more about rugs and carpets.
