Gold and Plum Striped Kilim, Hand-Woven Wool

Material: 100 percent hand-spun wool, flat-woven. 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 stripes 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.

Striped kilims are the everyday weaving of Afghanistan — made for use rather than for show, and all the better for it. What carries this one is the gold: a warm ochre that occupies most of the surface and gives the plum, madder and navy stripes something to sit against, so the rug reads as a single warm tone from a distance and resolves into a dozen separate colours as you approach. The narrow bands of woven diamonds and interlace appear only every so often, breaking the rhythm just enough to keep the eye moving down the length. Thin, light and reversible, it layers well over a larger rug and is easily lifted and shaken out.