Understanding Contour Rugs: The Idea and the Execution

Contour is not a weaving town. It is a design idea — the map line — and this is what it means when it turns up on a rug.

Where the idea comes from

Contour lines describe a landscape by joining points of equal height, turning three dimensions into a set of nested outlines. It is one of the most elegant flattenings ever devised.

In our range this sits in the Modern Minimal collection. Contemporary design that asks how little a rug needs. The intervals do as much work as the marks, and the furniture is left to do the talking.

How to read the pattern

Nested irregular outlines suggesting terrain. Where lines crowd together the ground is steep — the pattern reads as a place.

Contour in a machine washable rug

A minimal design has nowhere to hide. With no ornament to carry the eye, everything depends on the evenness of the ground and the accuracy of the intervals, and any flaw in the weave shows immediately.

Our Contour designs are woven in chenille polyester on a woven cotton backing with a non-slip finish. That construction is what makes the rug washable at 30°C in a domestic machine — there is no latex or rubber layer to crack, and no wool to felt. It is a genuinely different object from the originals this idea is drawn from, and it is meant to be: one is an heirloom, the other is a floor covering you can put in the wash.

Colours it comes in

We currently weave 4 Contour designs, across 4 colour families — blue & navy, grey & silver, black & anthracite and yellow & gold. Prices run from £50 for the 60 × 100 cm to £185 for the 200 × 300 cm, with delivery to the UK and Europe included.

What size to buy

Minimal pattern needs visible ground to work, so err larger rather than smaller — a small rug covered by a coffee table loses the whole idea.

Every design is woven in all ten sizes: 60 x 100, 80 x 150, 100 x 200, 120 x 180, 80 x 300, 100 x 300, 155 x 230, 200 x 300, 160 round, 200 round cm. We would put Contour in the living room, the bedroom, the dining room and the kitchen before anywhere else.

Common questions

Is this the same as a hand-knotted Contour?

No — and it does not claim to be. Contour is a contemporary design rather than a reproduction of an antique, so there is no hand-knotted original it is copying.

What colours does Contour come in?

4 colour families — blue & navy, grey & silver, black & anthracite and yellow & gold. We file a rug under the colour it reads as across a room, not the colour covering the most area, so an ivory ground with strong blue motifs is listed under blue.

Where should a Contour rug go?

The living room, The bedroom, The dining room and The kitchen suit it best. Anchor the sofa and coffee table. Because it washes at 30°C, the rooms most people avoid putting a rug in — kitchen, hallway, under a dining table — are the ones where it earns its keep.

Living with it

• Machine washable at 30°C on a gentle cycle — sizes up to 120 × 180 cm fit a standard 7 kg drum.
• Non-slip woven cotton backing: no separate underlay needed on wood, tile or laminate.
• Low pile, so robot vacuums pass over it without snagging.
• No latex, glue or rubber crumb — nothing to break down into dust.
• Dry flat or over a rail. Never tumble dry.