Taupe and Cream Banded Kilim, Hand-Woven Wool

Material: 100 percent hand-spun wool, flat-woven with soumak embroidered banding. No pile.

Care instructions

• Always use a rug pad underneath — a flatweave slips easily without one.
• Vacuum gently with the beater bar off, working along the bands rather than across them.
• Turn the kilim over every year — it is reversible and wears evenly if used both sides.
• Blot spills immediately, working from the outside in.
• Have the kilim professionally cleaned when needed — never machine wash.

The ground here is close to the natural colour of the wool itself — a soft taupe-brown that takes only a light dye or none at all — and the weaver has used that as the constant against which everything else is measured. Fine stripes run the whole length, interrupted every so often by a band of soumak diamonds in cream, madder and olive, so the surface has rhythm without ever becoming loud. The dark brown border does the opposite job, closing the piece firmly at the edges. It is the most neutral of the Afghan flatweaves and the easiest to place: it will sit under furniture in almost any room without asking for attention, which is precisely what a working rug was made to do.