Stratum: Hand Knotted Wool in Cinder, Abyss and Dune

Stratum is a Rugberry hand knotted rug in New Zealand wool, its surface built from overlapping blocks like layers of rock, in three colourways: Cinder, Abyss and Dune. It is stocked in 9x12 ft, at about ₹1.75 lakh, a size made for the large drawing room.

What is the Stratum rug?

Stratum is a hand knotted rug in New Zealand wool, patterned with stacked rectangular blocks that sit across one another like strata in a cliff face. Rugberry describes its feel as dense and fine, the most durable way a rug can be made.

The blocks are worked in two or three tones with a fine striped band in places, so the pattern reads as depth rather than as a grid. Each colourway is priced at about ₹1.75 lakh in 9x12 ft before GST, and any size or colour can be made to order.

If the term is new, our glossary entry on hand knotted rugs and the earlier post on the charm of a hand knotted rug explain the construction.

Which Stratum colourway suits your room?

Choose Cinder for warmth in a dark room, Abyss for contrast in a pale one, and Dune for a calm room where the rug should hold the floor without dominating it.

• Cinder: charcoal with blocks of rust and copper. It sits well with walnut, teak and leather, and with the warm lamp light of an evening drawing room.
• Abyss: a deep blue black broken by grey and white. It gives a white marble floor and pale walls a strong anchor.
• Dune: sand and ivory blocks, the quietest of the three, close in tone to limestone, Kota stone and light oak.

For a home with children and daily visitors, choose Cinder or Abyss over Dune, because the darker grounds and broken blocks hide the small marks of daily life. Dune rewards a room that is used more gently.

Is a 9x12 ft rug right for your drawing room?

A 9x12 ft rug is right for a drawing room of roughly 13x16 ft or larger, where it can hold a full seating group. At 108 sq ft, it is about 2.7 times the floor of a 5x8 ft rug.

In a 15x18 ft drawing room, common in bungalows and larger apartments in Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, a 9x12 ft Stratum leaves about 3 ft of floor on every side. That is enough for a clear walkway and lets the stone or wood frame the rug.

Place it so the front legs of the sofa and armchairs sit on the rug and the back legs on the floor. If the room is narrower, Stratum can be made to a custom size, and our 9x12 rug guide covers layouts in more detail.

Hand knotting is slow to make and slow to wear, which is why it belongs in the room used every day.

How does a hand knotted rug wear in an Indian home?

A hand knotted rug wears slowly and evenly, because each tuft of pile is tied around the warp threads rather than held in place by a glued backing. There is no backing cloth to separate and no latex to dry out in summer heat.

Wool also springs back after being pressed, so the dents from a sofa leg recover when it is moved and the pile brushed up. In a joint family drawing room that hosts Diwali gatherings and weekend lunches, that resilience is what you are paying for.

The one thing to watch is light. A west facing window will soften the colour of any rug over the years, so rotate Stratum end to end twice a year.

How do you care for Stratum?

Care for Stratum by vacuuming weekly with suction only, rotating it twice a year, and having it washed by a specialist every few years.

• Blot spills with a dry white cloth and a little cool water, never hot water, which can set a stain in wool.
• Keep it on a thin pad on marble or tile, both to stop it moving and to ease wear on the back.
• Before the monsoon, check that the floor below stays dry, and lift the rug if water ever seeps under a balcony door.

What does a Stratum rug cost to own?

Stratum costs about ₹1.75 lakh in 9x12 ft before GST, which works out to roughly ₹1,620 per sq ft. That is roughly twice the rate of a good handloom wool rug, the difference being the hand time in every knot.

Spread over the long life of a hand knotted rug, it is one of the more considered purchases in a home. Our guide to rugs above ₹1 lakh sets Stratum beside the other hand knotted pieces.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Stratum rug available in sizes other than 9x12 ft?

Stratum is stocked in 9x12 ft. Rugberry lists it in any size and any colour to order, so a smaller or longer rug can be made for a particular room.

Which Stratum colourway is easiest to live with?

Cinder and Abyss are the most forgiving, because their dark grounds and broken blocks disguise small marks. Dune is the lightest and suits a calmer room.

Why is a hand knotted rug priced so much higher than a tufted one?

A hand knotted rug is tied one knot at a time on a vertical loom, while a tufted rug is punched through a backing cloth with a hand held tool. The extra hand time is the main reason for the price, and it also makes the knotted rug the more durable of the two.

Three colours of the same layered ground. Material first. The range continues in hand knotted rugs.