Irregular leaf-shaped wool carpet - BIG LEAF

Philosophy of Nodus

Our philosophy of creating this exclusive handmade collection can be summed up by quoting Francois-Henri Pinault: “Luxury is the encounter between a vision of the future that surprises and an understanding of the past that reassures.”

This is how we created and reinvented this collection of unique pieces.

The design will surprise you, and you will be delighted with the highest quality.

What we offer our Customers:

Excellent quality fabrics, hand-woven by the best Producers in the world.

Great design, as each piece is designed by renowned architects and designers who distinguish the collection and make it recognizable and prestigious.

Innovation: we have combined the traditions of the best production with designs that are not only stylistic but also artistic and avant-garde, which encouraged us to experiment to give new meaning to the work itself.

Unique service: essentially, each carpet is produced based on Customer personalization. No stock of carpets in standard sizes, but unique fabrics that are produced to fully meet the customer's requirements. Each product is made to order and, of course, custom-made.

Finally, and no less importantly, we place the utmost importance on fair trade. We do not and will not employ children. However, we ensure that the fabulous craftsmen receive fair and proper remuneration.

On the contrary, we want to support them and help them grow through cooperation and mutual respect.

Luxury Hand-Woven Carpets

Luxury hand-woven carpets are not just a home decoration element; they have actually become a luxury. Add a cozy touch to your home with attractive, luxurious hand-woven carpets that give your space a traditional look. Enrich your home with a unique character. At Nodusrug, you will find carpets in various styles, patterns, and designs that reflect your unique personality.

Give your feet a warm touch with luxurious, hand-woven carpets that complete the look of your home. Cover any imperfections while enhancing the aesthetic value of your home.

Luxury hand-woven carpets not only make the floor look clean or protective but rather make walking and sitting more comfortable for you and your guests. Decorate the floor with luxurious accessories and add more color and shine to your home in good style. This season, give your space a luxurious makeover!

Nodus Project

Nodus is a craft workshop with a cultural plan: the oldest traditions and knowledge in the art of carpet design are reinterpreted using the vision of the most innovative Designers and Architects, producing exclusively unique works, promoting themselves through events and publications to spread knowledge about new shapes and forms of the work that has accompanied humans since antiquity.

Craftsmanship: Nodus has chosen the best producers from six countries worldwide (Nepal, Pakistan, India, Turkmenistan, China, and Turkey), visiting them one by one, verifying materials, techniques, skilled craftsmen, and ethical production.

Each carpet from Nodus will be a unique piece, entirely handmade, including the packaging.

The result is a collection of 60 carpets that sets a new horizon of shapes and colors, a collection that breaks boundaries and goes beyond the hands of reason.

The spirit of the carpets is captured in dynamic and organic forms, like assembling puzzles, taking on irregular profiles, or being inspired by contemporary and everyday products such as fabrics, tablecloths, books, and maps.

All rules are torn apart, except one: Hand weaving, knot by knot.

Whether you are buying or just appreciating the quality of a Nodus product, you can be sure that the carpet was produced with the utmost respect, above all with respect for human rights and the right to good working conditions and fair remuneration.

The guarantee comes from Rugmark, an international foundation that has been working for 14 years to end child labor and rigorously controls the production process every 3 months.

Raw Material

Wool

Wool is certainly the most commonly used material for hand-woven products. The ability to choose and work with it is very important, as the quality of the yarn strongly affects the softness and durability of the carpet, as well as determines the brightness of colors and patterns. It is always better to use wool that is not too curly; otherwise, it is often necessary to treat the pile with artificial substances that can alter their resistance.

Additionally, it is important that shearing is carried out at a specific time of the year, preferably in spring or late summer.

After shearing, the wool undergoes a washing process, essential for removing any impurities and degreasing it.

The most experienced craftsmen know that this treatment should not be too drastic, as the right fat content makes the yarn particularly soft. After washing, the wool is carefully dried, possibly in the sun, and then teased and spun. In modern processes, this operation is very often performed mechanically.

However, hand spinning is always the best, as it allows for the elimination of any fiber irregularities, making it very compact and suitable for any type of weaving.

Silk

Silk, an animal fiber produced from silkworm cocoons, is an extremely costly and luxurious material for textile and carpet production. Silk cultivation began in ancient China, where it was a jealously guarded secret.

Eventually, its use spread to Persia, then to Byzantium and Europe.

Regardless of the cost, silk pile carpets, even those with a silk backing, are not uncommon, although they are high-quality items in the tradition of courtly art.

Extremely luxurious nomadic fabrics will also have part of the pile made of silk. The appeal of silk lies in the delicacy of its fibers, which are extremely soft, as well as in its luminous, reflective quality.

For this reason, the color effect on silk is much more intense and shiny than the effect of the same dye even on the best wool.

However, silk is much more delicate and less durable than wool.

As a result, many fewer silk carpets are well preserved. This rarity, along with the basic cost, places antique silk pieces among the most expensive carpets.

Hemp

Hemp fibers are obtained by subjecting the stalks to a series of operations - including retting, drying, and crushing - and a shaking process that finishes separating them from the woody part, releasing a long, fairly straight fiber or strand.

The fiber strands, usually over 1.8 meters long, consist of individual cylindrical cells with an irregular surface. The fiber, longer and less flexible than flax, is usually yellowish, greenish, dark brown, or gray, and because it is not easily bleached to sufficiently light shades, it is rarely dyed. It is strong and durable and is used for rope-making products - such as twine, yarn, rope, cord, and string - and for artificial sponges and coarse materials like sacks (canvas) and canvas. In Italy, some hemp undergoes special processing, resulting in a whitish color and attractive sheen, and is used to produce linen-like fabrics. Other plant fibers used for rope production have been incorrectly named hemp, but only the hemp plant yields true hemp.

Linen (flax)

Linen is one of the oldest textile fibers and is valued for its strength, luster, durability, and moisture absorption.

It is resistant to microorganism attack, and its smooth surface repels soil. It is stronger than cotton, dries faster, and is slower to be affected by sunlight.

It can be bleached to pure white, but dyeing is somewhat difficult as the fibers are not easily penetrated. Fine grades of linen are produced for fabrics and lace for clothing and home furnishings.

Lower grades are used for products requiring strength and moisture resistance - such as canvas, twine, fire hose, sacks, and of course, rugs and carpets.

Banana Silk (abaca)

The outer layer containing fibers is usually removed from the stalk during an operation where strips or tuxedos are released from one end and pulled off.

In the subsequent cleaning operation, the pulp is scraped off manually or mechanically, releasing fiber strands that are sun-dried. The strands average from 1 to 3 meters in length, depending on the size of the petioles and the processing method used.

The shiny fiber ranges in color from white to brown, red, purple, or black, depending on the plant variety and stem location; the strongest fibers come from the outer sheaths.

Abaca fiber is valued for its exceptional strength, flexibility, and resistance, which is why it is used in carpets, placemats, and paper.

The plant's inner fibers can be used without spinning to produce lightweight, strong fabrics, mainly used locally for clothing, hats, and shoes.

Production Colors

Despite the widespread use of synthetic dyes, the most prestigious manufacturers still use natural dyes, extracted and prepared according to very ancient methods.

However, by the end of the 19th century, the application of synthetic colors allowed for an expanded chromatic range. Today, the best producers use both techniques.

Working Tools

The loom is the most commonly used tool for creating details of various dimensions. It has a solid and stable construction, formed by two side posts and two closing beams.

The upper hedge separates the warp yarn on the appropriate slots attached to the posts, while the lower one passes through the warp.

There are also other auxiliary tools, mainly essential during the tying phase, such as the characteristic blades with a hooked edge. They are useful for cutting knots.

The comb is used to secure and close the weft threads in the knots; this phase of work is performed with absolute precision.

Upon completion of the work, precise shearing is necessary, which is still performed by skilled shearers proficient in using scissors and sharp blades.

Carpet Structure

Warp

In the carpet structure, the warp forms the supporting part of the skeleton, a kind of framework that must be made with absolute precision to avoid defects in the final product, such as bumps and warps.

The best materials to use are undoubtedly silk and cotton, which are very durable and provide great fabric strength. To create the warp, the yarns are stretched on a beam at equal distances; each forms a chain that appears in individual threads on the fringes upon completion. A valuable carpet always has a large number of warp chains.

Skeleton

The weft thread passes through the warp, and this structure is also useful for tying knots.

Once the work is completed, it cannot be noticed, so it is better to hide it under a higher pile.

The weft thread can be made of wool or cotton; silk is also an excellent material but is usually used for producing valuable items due to its high cost.

Fringes

Fringes are the visible part of the warp chains and are, of course, subject to wear.

Their yarns can be woven in various ways depending on the country of production; therefore, they sometimes provide an excellent clue to discovering the place of origin.

Pile

The pile consists of cut loops from the knots and is obtained during the shearing phase.

It is extremely important to precisely display patterns. Uneven or too long cutting can, in fact, threaten the clarity of the decorative structure.

Knots Symmetrical Knot (Ghiorde)

The symmetrical knot is used in Turkey, the Caucasus, and Iran by Turkish and Kurdish tribes.

It is also used in some European carpets. To create this knot, the yarn is passed through two adjacent warp strands.

Each end of the yarn is then wrapped around one warp and brought back to the surface in the middle of the two warps.

Asymmetrical Knot (Persian or Senneh)

The asymmetrical knot is used in Iran, India, Turkey, Egypt, and China.

To create this knot, the yarn is wrapped around one warp strand, then passed under the adjacent warp strand and brought back to the surface. This type of knot can achieve a finer weave.

Tibetan Knot

In Tibet, a distinctive carpet weaving technique is used.

A temporary rod is placed in front of the warp to determine the pile length.

The continuous yarn is wrapped around two warps and then once around the rod.

When a row of loops is ready, the loops are cut to form knots.

Selvages

Selvages correspond to the hem along the edge where there are no fringes and consist of warp chains where no knots are tied.

Natural Dyes

The craft of creating natural dyes is a fascinating and ancient art that is over four thousand years old. Before the 20th century, traditional paint-based dyes were produced according to recipes passed down from generation to generation.

One of the most important dyes was madder, which grows wild throughout the Middle East and forms the basis for various shades of red, pink, and purple.

Madder Plant

Another bluish-red comes from cochineal and kermes insects, which live in the shade of oak trees.

Saffron

Wild saffron dyes a red-yellow color, while cultivated saffron dyes a pure yellow. A lighter yellow comes from the roots of the turmeric plant, while the mulberry bush fungus provides a greenish-yellow dye.

Indigo

This is the most prized color of all, derived from soaking and fermenting the indigo plant. The color indigo is between blue and violet. The name comes from India, where the plant was first used commercially. The bluish color of the plant is responsible for the English word "dungarees," named after the Indian city of Dungaree, whose indigo was used to dye the blue jeans of American gold miners since 1848.

Walnut

Dark brown dyes usually come from walnut shells soaked in iron oxide and were the only ones that contained mineral fixatives or mordants.

In many villages, there lived a Master Dyer who produced a very special color. The Master Dyer proudly wore his color splashed on his clothing, and his arms were permanently dyed. The dyer passed his precious recipe to his son or male heir. If there was no trusted male heir, the recipe often disappeared forever.

Below is a recipe long used by one of the most trusted suppliers in Pakistan:

The Natural Herbal Dye process for wool, used to produce hand-made wool yarns, plant-dyed, hand-spun.

Most commonly found in the jungle, on farmland, or in hilly areas, these are:

1. Henna leaf.

2. Dried tobacco leaves.

3. Elm

4. Saffron

5. Green walnut

6. Butea leaf

7. Margosa leaf

8. Pomegranate peel

9.

Indigo crush 10. Tea leaf.

Currently, in Pakistan, hand-spun natural herbal dyes are used for weaving hand-knotted Zeigler (Chobi) carpets (Ghznavi sheep yarn).

This special herbal dyeing technique was introduced in Pakistan by Turkish and Afghan carpet weavers who emigrated to Pakistan during the Soviet invasion from cities like Kabul, Akcha, Mazar-e-Sharif, Hazara, Shaberghan, Andkhoi, and Kunduz.

Over 200,000 refugees (both men and women) were skilled carpet weavers and settled mainly in refugee camps in Pakistan (Serhad province near the areas of Peshawar, Attock, Swabi, Cherat, and Jalozai).

These Aryan and Turkic inhabitants taught and introduced unique herbal plant dyes for wool yarn in Pakistan to dye Gerdezi carpets with Turkish knots in Chobi (Zeigler) using flat floor hand looms, which became popular worldwide.

In fact, over 3300 years ago, ancient Egyptians also used these herbal plant colors in their wall paintings, pottery, tombs, and pharaohs' pyramids.

They most frequently used shades of green, indigo-blue, yellow, and red with an unknown waterproof natural lacquer based on glue (annamil coatings/laminated). These colors are timeless and remain preserved. This process of dyeing with plant herbs was and still is natural, non-chemical, non-allergenic, and non-acidic. This system was used before the adoption of Aniline (synthetic), which was introduced in the mid-19th century (1850 - 1870). Aniline dyes are artificial, warmer, brighter, and remain unchanged even after washing at 65°. The colors do not run or fade. However, plant herbal dyes appear slightly lighter and softer and somewhat faded, thus looking natural. They are completely environmentally friendly. The richness of colors allows for magnificent decorative effects through contrast and harmony of shades. The dye recipes, both plant and animal, have been passed down from century to century. Today, the same processes are used in Turkey, Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan, and recently in Pakistan, still following traditional, nomadic formulas from the past. There is a special dyeing technique using minerals and vegetables. Each strand of hand-spun sheep yarn is immersed in a mixture of raw ground powder, creating herbal dyes, then collected, dried naturally, and finally exposed to the hot sun. Sometimes two to four colors are mixed to create one new color, e.g., mixing yellow, blue, orange, and olive to achieve a shade of leaf green. After washing, all these combined colors are slightly visible, giving a refined coolness. In summary, natural dyes, when properly applied, undoubtedly provide the best effects, e.g., when a hand-woven rug becomes a home decoration. Below is presented which leaves, roots, and bark from various trees and plants are used to produce "PLANT DYES." Organic dyes and possible colors to obtain: Sources: natural dyes from plant parts. - Vegetables and fruit shells. - Roots and leaves. - Flowers. - Bark and berries. RED GROUP: (1) Madder Plant .......... for bright Shade ........... RED (for Zeigler / Chobi / Linen / Silk Dyes carpets) (2) Cochineal. .................................................. ...... YELLOW GROUP: (3) Saffron ........................................... .................... YELLOW (for cotton, wool, denim/jeans fabrics) (4) Willow/Birch leaves ........... .............................. YELLOW (5) Zarik ............... .................................................. .. Dark Yellow (6) Turmeric .......................................... .................. Light YELLOW (7) Tobacco .......................... .................................. Light YELLOW, Creamy, Golden YELLOW BROWN GROUP: (8) Blackwood. .................................................. .... Dark Brown (9) Wood logs .. for fur, silk, wool ………………… .. Dark Brown and BLACK (10) Walnut shells ............................................. ....... Light Brown (11) Cleansing Cassia .................................... ............. Chocolate, Black Coal (12) Tea leaves (Black/Green) ....................... ..... Gray, Light Brown GREEN GROUP: (13) Henna leaves (for hair, skin) …………… .. Yellowish/Olive GREEN (14) Alfalfa Grass ........... ........................................... Pastel GREEN (15) Royan. .................................................. .............. Dark ORANGE BEIGE GROUP: (16) Mustard seeds .......................... ........................ Light Cream, BEIGE (17) Onion skins ............................................. ............ Gray, Light CREAMY RUST GROUP: (18) Pomegranate/Oak bark, Vine Leaves ........ Reddish Rust(19) Mint + ...... .................................................. ........... Light greenish, light COPPER-

PURPLE GROUP:

(20) Blackberries (roots) ....................... ................... PURPLE

Water Lilly & Daffodil flowers

Synthetic dyes

The transition to chemical dyes began in 1834 when a German chemist noticed that distilled coal tar or aniline produced a blue-violet coloration when bleach powder was applied. His discovery helped pave the way for the development of other aniline dyes.

Unfortunately, the original aniline dyes made fabrics stiff and dry, and the color faded.

Around 1870, synthetic dyes reached the coastal region of Turkey. They became a popular trade item on the Silk Road and reached the nomadic populations of the Caucasus and Iran region.

Particularly for the shade of red, the new aniline dyes proved more economical to use than natural dyes, allowing carpet manufacturers to speed up production and increase demand. These dyes also provided greater control over colors from one batch to another, which is an active feature considering the belief that Western buyers wanted more evenly dyed carpets.

However, aniline dyes achieved limited success. Rural dyers received bags of powdered dye and a recipe. Following the recipe was necessary for a successful outcome. Unfortunately, most villagers could not read or understand the scientific instructions—which were often written in a foreign language—and these villagers were accustomed to measuring by handfuls. Given these obstacles, correctly mixing colors was nearly impossible.

In 1940, chrome dyes were developed using potassium bicarbonate, allowing for a wide range of rich, durable colors that were not harmful to wool. Over the years, synthetic dye formulas were created to provide an interesting palette that no plant dyes could offer.

Synthetic dyes do not cause the carpet fibers to break down, and this issue should be considered in terms of the carpet's history and the quality of the material from which it was woven.

Carpet care suggestions

Generally speaking, they are easy to care for.

Moderate vacuuming is sufficient. Avoid using a carpet beater.

What to do:

• It is advisable to rotate the carpet at least once a year, but of course, this depends on the level of traffic.

• Vacuuming: Regular vacuuming is necessary to remove dirt and rejuvenate fibers, but be careful not to vacuum the fringes.

• Stains or spills: In most cases, spills can be cleaned with a cloth and warm water without excessive rubbing. If an excessive amount of water is used, ensure it dries naturally and as quickly as possible.

However, using a hairdryer on a low setting can help with the drying process.

• Solids are best removed with a blunt knife edge or even a spoon.

• Greasy or oily stains can be removed with a neutral shampoo, such as baby shampoo with cold water. Avoid harsh detergents. Wool carpets are naturally oil-resistant, and detergents can damage the carpet's natural oils.

A good rule to follow is: if you can use it on your hair, you can probably use it on the carpet.

Note: For persistent stains, we recommend consulting a specialized cleaning service.

• Packing: The carpet should always be rolled into a cylinder and secured with appropriate covering.

• Do not fold the carpet

General information: It is important to

remember that moisture can damage the carpet, so we advise against placing plants on the carpet.

Equally harmful is animal urine, which can leave stains if not treated quickly and effectively. It is advisable to immediately soak it with cold water and then use a specialized cleaning service.

Please always remember, if possible, to dry the carpet naturally, but not in direct sunlight.

It is important to never use stain removal products. If oil or grease stains appear on the carpet, use talcum powder or a similar agent.