Every Weaver & Loom rug begins not on a loom, but in the highlands of Nepal and Tibet, where sheep graze at altitudes above 12,000 feet. The wool they produce is unlike anything found at lower elevations. Longer staple fibers. Natural lanolin content. A resilience that synthetic materials cannot replicate.
Sourcing the Fiber
Our master weavers work exclusively with Himalayan highland wool and Mulberry silk. The wool is hand-sorted by grade, washed in mountain spring water, and carded by hand to align the fibers. This process alone takes weeks before a single knot is tied.
The Dyeing Process
Color is not applied to our rugs. It is built into them. Natural and Swiss-engineered dyes are carefully measured and mixed in copper vats. Wool skeins are submerged, monitored, and dried in natural sunlight. A single color may require three to four dye baths to achieve the depth our designs demand.
Hand-Knotting
A skilled artisan ties between 6,000 and 12,000 knots per day. A 9-by-12-foot rug at 100 knots per square inch contains over 1.5 million individual knots. At that pace, a single rug takes four to six months of daily work to complete.
There are no shortcuts. Each knot is tied by hand around the warp threads, cut to length with a small blade, and beaten into place with a weighted comb. The rhythm of this work has remained unchanged for centuries.
Finishing
After months on the loom, the rug is cut free and enters a finishing process that takes another four to six weeks. It is washed repeatedly in cold water to remove excess dye and lanolin. It is stretched and blocked to ensure perfectly square corners. The pile is sheared by hand to create an even surface. Some designs are hand-carved to add sculptural depth.
Only then does a rug earn the Weaver & Loom name.
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