BUT NO MATTER HOW INNOVATIVE THE DESIGN, EACH RUG
begins with the ancient weaving traditions of Nepal. Tibetan
high-altitude Himalayan sheep provide the wool, which is of
an exceptional quality: rich in lanolin, with a terrific luster and
strength thanks to the slow rate at which it grows. After shearing,
the wool is thoroughly washed—by Buddhist monks no less.
Using a process called carding, the wool is detangled by hand
with a wooden board covered in spikes that comb through it,
preserving the fluffiness and keeping the fibers intact. It takes one
week to transform two kilograms of raw wool into yarn suitable for
weaving. Next the wool, still natural in color, is twisted into longer
pieces on a foot-operated spinning wheel called a charka (The
Rug Company uses wool of varying thickness depending on
the knot count of a given design) before heading back to the
monastery, where it is weighed. Then it is bound for dyeing in
Kathmandu, a journey that can take weeks in the rainy season.
The dye master works alone in a laboratory surrounded
by colorful powders and potions, tweaking recipes based on
seasonal and environmental conditions. It is a revered and
often-poached position, with the most respected dye masters
coming from India. Every color in a rug is mixed from scratch from
imported Swiss aniline color powders that are highly resistant to
fading, with its recipe recorded in what the company likens to
a book of magical spells. The wool for most average-size rugs
is dyed in a trough-like pot, with skeins of yarn put on metal
loops, rotated and dipped until soaked through. Each pot can
hold enough yarn to dye half of what is needed for a nine-foot-by-six-foot rug—seventy-seven pounds of raw wool. Weather
permitting, the yarn is left outside to dry in the sun. Once dry, the
skeins go to the weaving room, where they are wound into balls.
