Bespoke? Custom? What's the difference?

Here's what we mean: Custom means starting with one of our designs, and adjusting the size, colors, and some design elements. Bespoke means that we design the rug from scratch to match your decor, your preferences, and your idea of  a perfect rug.  Whichever you choose, Catherine will work with you to create the rug you want -- and the cost is included in the package!

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Knotted, tufted, woven?

We can produce your rug as hand-knotted, hand-tufted or woven. If you think of your rug, for a moment, as a computer screen, where the image is made up of individual colored pixels, you'll have a picture of the hand-knotted and hand-tufted processes.   

• In a hand-knotted rug, each "pixel" is made by the weaver tying a knot where the threads in a piece of cotton or linen cross.

• A hand-tufted rug is made on a cotton backing,  with a "gun" that the weaver uses to punch each colored thread through the backing.

• Woven rugs are made on a traditional loom, one row at a time.

 

While each method  has its own characteristics, all are guaranteed to  produce rugs that will provide decades of use. One advantage of hand-tufting over the other two is that with a  hand-tufted rug we can vary the height of the pile in different areas of a single rug, providing for especially luxurious and beautiful floor coverings.

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How can we possibly get the colors right? No two screens look exactly the same.

With a free in-home Design Consultation we will bring actual  samples (called wool POMs) of the hundreds of colors we have available. When a home visit is not possible, we can talk about colors by referring to easily available color charts such as you can get at your local paint store. We can suggest which of our colors come closest to the colors you choose from those charts. Many of the POM colors are also shown in the curated collection for our CustomQUICK program.Whatever we do to choose the colors you want, you'll end up with an actual woven sample showing the exact colors that the mill will use, and the complete rug won't go into production until you approve the colors (and design).

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How does this process work?

There are five simple steps. The first, really the most important, is free!

1. Design. You'll have a free design consultation. This is not just a 20 minute sales pitch -- the end result is aa agreement on the style, design elements and colors. Soon after the meeting you'll be sent one or more design ideas, and we'll use those as the basis for the final design, which you will be asked to approve before we move forward..

2. Sample. Starting from that design we'll prepare a specification (called a "rendering" or a "CAD" in the industry) and have a sample produced. The 1'x1' sample shows the colors and is a small piece of the actual rug, at full scale. The sample takes about two weeks to produce; it is shipped to us, so that we can check it for correctness and quality, and then we'll ship it to you for approval. Note that we'll ask for a small payment to cover the production and shipping of the sample before we begin this step.

3. Approval. Here's where you give us the go-ahead to produce the rug. We'll inspect the sample together to make sure its colors and design elements match your space, and make any necessary adjustments.  Very rarely, if the changes are significant, you might want to have a second sample made.

4. Production. Once you've approved the sample, we'll need you to pay for the rug. We'll send any revisions to the mill and tell them to go ahead and produce your rug. In the CustomQuick program production  takes an incredibly short 40 days.

5. Delivery. The mill will ship the finished rug to us for examination, and then we'll ship it to you. Congratulations on your new rug!

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But there have to be hidden surprise charges, don't there? What's in the small print?

No catch, and no hidden charges -- this is the only small print!. Obviously you have to be satisfied with the colors we choose together, but you'll be as certain as possible before putting down a nickel, and 100% sure after you receive the sample.If you look at the sample and decide you want something very different we'll have to change for a second sample.   The hardest thing to control is shipping – which can be affected by weather, pandemics and similar unpredictable events. Shipping from the mill is by air, so it won't be affected by ships blocking the Suez Canal. 

OK: one catch. We'd really appreciate (but don't require) a testimonial and a picture of the rug when it's in place -- if you're nearby we'll be happy to come out and take the picture, but otherwise a photo from your phone would be nice to have.