Loribaft | 200 x 144 cm | Nr. 14025

Mottled Loribaft, dark brown with stripes

Origin

Lori rugs are a finer version of the Gabbeh, which was traditionally knotted by the Lurs. The Lurs are a tribal people in south-western Persia (also known as Loristan). Lori (or Luri) rugs are also referred to as Loribaft. The added syllable "baft" means roughly "knotted". Translated, Loribaft therefore means Lur knotting.

Lori rugs traditionally have inventive geometric patterns in colourful designs. Modern Loris are usually plainer these days, with monochrome designs. Even so, you still come across traditional, stylised and geometric motifs from everyday nomadic life, such as goats, camels, dogs, plants or people. The geometric pattern and the friendly colours create a pleasant, warm atmosphere at home.

Pattern

The surface of this Loribaft has a mottled look. The shifts in tone and the light-and-dark shading of the pile yarn make the colours shimmer and help the rug shrug off dirt. These so-called colour breaks, known as abrash, give the rug a livelier character. The mottling comes about because the wool of this Loribaft was hand-spun. During dyeing, the natural dyes are absorbed to differing degrees.

The straight stripes of this Loribaft bring order and structure to the pattern.

A lightly suggested border frames the edge of this rug.

The pile is a single, uniform dark brown. The plain design is understated, yet it can just as easily set a striking accent. The monochrome look of this rug blends beautifully into any setting.

Material

The technique used to make the materials for the pile of this Loribaft is more than 200 years old. The wool was dyed with natural colours and spun by hand. Dyeing with natural or plant-based colours is more involved, more costly and more time-consuming than dyeing with chemical dyes. For a luminous red, for instance, you need around one kilo of ground madder root as dyestuff per kilo of wool. For a strong yellow that isn't too pale, it even takes two kilograms of weld per kilo of wool. Spinning the wool is time-consuming and labour-intensive too. And fewer and fewer people still know how to spin wool by hand.

But the effort is worth it: dyeing with natural colours lets the high-quality wool keep its natural lanolin. Wool that has been naturally dyed and hand-spun produces fascinating, shifting patterns. The charm of hand-spun wool, with its slight irregularities and natural shades, comes into its own as a contrast in modern interiors, but equally in rooms furnished in a more traditional or country style. The weft threads of this Loribaft are made of cotton. Wool was used for the warp threads.