The making

From fibre to finish

No machine touches the surface of a Raheem & Son rug. This is the journey of a single piece, months of work, condensed into four movements.

Fibre
Hanks of hand-spun yarn stretched to dry on an iron frame.
Hanks of hand-spun yarn stretched to dry on an iron frame.
The second line of drying yarn, colour fixed before the dye bath.
The second line of drying yarn, colour fixed before the dye bath.
01

Fibre

Hand-spun Himalayan wool and mulberry silk are sorted, washed and graded by hand before a single thread is dyed.

Dye
02

Dye

Yarn is coloured in controlled batches using safe, colourfast dyes, matched to specification and tested for consistency so every rug holds true colour.

Loom
03

Loom

Master weavers read the design from the talim, our coded notation, and tie each knot by hand over months.

Wash
04

Wash

Off the loom, the rug is washed by hand on open ground, water drawn through the pile with a wooden paddle, again and again, until the wool blooms and the colours settle to their true depth.

Finish
05

Finish

The pile is sheared, stretched and hand-bound, the slow finishing that gives a Raheem & Son rug its weight and drape.

Dispatch
06

Dispatch

Each finished rug is rolled, wrapped and bound by hand, then stacked and labelled for export, ready to travel to homes and projects around the world.