The Karakul Collection

Karakul is our name for a small, closely selected group of new rugs hand-knotted in Afghanistan, where weaving is still very much a household craft rather than an industry.

What holds the collection together is not one pattern but one standard. Every piece is chosen by us individually, for its drawing, its colour and the evenness of its knotting, and every piece is one of a kind: the rug you see is the rug you receive. Browse the full Karakul collection.

Design

The drawing follows the classical rugs of Oushak (also written Ushak or Usak) in western Anatolia, here in their floral, allover form. Long, slender vines curl into large circular scrolls that run across the whole field in mirrored pairs, carrying palmettes, rosettes and serrated leaves at their crossings. There is no central medallion: the pattern simply continues, calm and even, from one end to the other.

A wide border on a slightly deeper sand ground repeats the scrolling vines with larger palmettes and leaves, framed by a plain sand band and a fine beaded outer stripe.

Colour

The field is a soft ivory moving into cream, the border a warmer sand. The drawing is picked out in light sand, sage green and touches of apricot and pale grey-blue, so softly that from a distance the rug appears almost plain, and the pattern only emerges up close or in raking light.

It is a rug for light, quiet interiors: white or limewashed walls, pale oak, linen, bouclé and natural stone — rooms where a rug should add warmth and texture rather than strong colour.

Material and Quality

The pile is 100 % wool, hand-knotted onto a cotton foundation. The knotting is fine enough to carry the long vine lines and small leaves cleanly, even at such low contrast. At around 23 kg the rug lies flat and settled on the floor.

In the Room

At 245 x 296 cm (8 ft 0 in x 9 ft 9 in, 7.3 m² / 78 sq ft) this is a classic room-size format in the 8 x 10 ft range:

• Sitting room: holds a sofa, two armchairs and a coffee table, with the front legs of the seating on the rug.
• Dining room: takes a table for six with the chairs still on the rug when pulled out, in rooms from about 3.5 x 4.5 m (11 x 15 ft) upwards.
• Bedroom: placed under the lower two-thirds of a king or super-king bed, it frames the bed generously on both sides.

In London, this is a rug for a pale Georgian drawing room in Marylebone or a white-walled loft in Shoreditch, where its quiet pattern lets furniture and light take the lead — and it reaches London within 2–7 working days.

Specifications

Responsible Origin · Label STEP

Djoharian is a Label STEP Fair Trade Partner. Label STEP is the international fair-trade organisation for hand-knotted rugs, standing for fair pay for the weavers and no child labour.

Djoharian — Since 1967

Our family business was founded in 1967, with roots in the Grand Carpet Bazaar of Tehran — five decades of trade and connoisseurship behind every piece we offer.

Delivery, Service and Care

Every piece is inspected in our atelier in Lohr am Main, Germany, before dispatch. Secure and fast worldwide shipping, fully insured. We are happy to send further photographs or a short video of the rug in daylight, and offer personal consultation in our showroom or by video call. For expert washing and repair we run our own professional rug cleaning service.