Journal
How a Rug gets its Colours
When you’re thinking of a design for a rug, the first thing that might come to your mind is the intricate pattern or overall artwork. But behind the allure of each beautiful rug lies an important and complicated process which often goes unnoticed - the art of selecting colours.
30 Apr 2025
At first glance, choosing colours might seem like a simple, straightforward task: pick a palette, match it with the design, and you’re set. In reality, this step is one of the most time-consuming and thoughtful parts of the entire production journey.
Imagine a box packed with hundreds of tiny tufts of wool, showcasing every possible colour from dusty rose to deep indigo to amber to olive green. These are our ASR pom boxes, our vibrant colour palette.
Designers experiment with these boxes of colour poms, selecting one pom colour at a time, holding it up to the light, pairing it with the design, positioning it alongside other shades of poms, and figuring out which shade harmonizes most beautifully. This process is both instinctive and deeply technical, as a single shade that is too deep or overly vibrant can drastically alter the overall mood of a piece.
Selecting colours is just the start, for once a pom is selected, it needs to be tested, and this is where things get beautifully complicated. You would think that selecting a colour is as easy as liking what you see, but wool is deceptive.
A colour that appeared ideal as a pom could completely shift, when woven into a rug. The knots bounce light in different ways. Nearby tones blend and absorb each other, so this process can be quite complicated and time-consuming.
To help with visualization, the selected colours are incorporated with the designs and made into samples that allow designers to see how the colours work together and feel in rug form. It turns into a process of testing, experimenting, and improving. Once woven into the surrounding tones, what appears to be a dusty rose on a pom could become warmer or cooler.
This process isn’t just about choosing “pretty colours.” It's about sculpting emotions and feelings. Colours establish mood by adding nuance, vitality, tenderness, or drama.
A rug with warm, grounding colours might anchor a room and make it feel safe, while a rug with bright, sharp contrasts might wake it up and turn it into a gallery. And without the weavers in Nepal and India, this process of bringing art to life would not be possible.
Once our final colours are chosen and mapped out, a digital weaving plan is sent across continents, where it's translated into rugs, not by machines but by hands.
At the end of this process, the rug is more than a product; it becomes a painting you can touch. A translation of an artist’s soul, a designer’s eye, and the skills of a weaver.
More Journal Posts
Production
Natural Materials behind every Knots Rug
Each Knots rugs rug weaves a narrative rich not only in color and design but also in materials. The rugs are intricately crafted from materials sourced from the lush silk fields, the majestic Himalayan highlands, and the green hillsides covered with wild nettle. Our rugs are born from nature’s own palette, woven with materials that are as thoughtful as they are beautiful. At Knots Rugs, our work begins long before a single knot is tied. It starts in nature, where the finest, most ethical, and sustainable fibers are found. We work with all the different fibers in the world, from Tibetan wool, Chinese silk, wild silk, nettle, hemp, and cactus.
Production
Translating Art into Rugs
At Knots Rugs, the story of each rug goes far beyond the finished product. It starts with an idea, a spark of inspiration and grows into something tangible, something you can feel beneath your feet but also connect on a deeper level. The journey of rug making begins with a design and what makes our story different is our collaborations with different artists, in which we translate their arts into rugs. Creating a living piece of story and art for your homes.
Production
The Craft of Nepalese Carpets
Amid the rise of mass production and machine-made goods, some crafts remain deeply connected to their roots, carrying traditions that span-generations. Nepali hand-knotted carpet is an example of one such treasure - a handwoven masterpiece that tells the story of culture, community and craftsmanship.