Creating and maintaining a successful interior design scheme is a constant challenge for the style conscious home owner. It would be a tragedy therefore, to have a well thought out scheme ruined by a less than successful choice of rug. Of course there are many beautiful choices of stock rugs available on the market, but it can sometimes prove difficult to find that special piece you envisioned, or even just a rug that ticks all the boxes in terms of colour, design, material, size or budget. So why not consider a bespoke rug? Having a custom rug made to your specification has numerous benefits and the process is easier than you think. The term bespoke rugs can mean anything from just a custom size, to basic recoloring, to having a design created from scratch and made in a custom quality. The opportunities are endless.
Stock rugs generally come in a set of standard sizes which have roughly the same width to length ratio. This can cause problems if you have a long thin space, a very square space, or a vary large space requiring an over-sized rug. Bespoke rugs can be made to your exact dimensions, even in round shapes and shapes with cut outs. Having the correctly sized rug for a room can make a big difference to how the room reads. A well sized rug can help structure a room, or even make the space appear larger.
Colours form the basis of any room, and for this reason, many designers put colours high on their list of priorities. However, if a room is almost complete, it can be hard to find a rug than compliments every colour found in existing furnishings. Bespoke rug colours can be matched to fabric swatches and colour charts for the most complimentary result.
Many people believe that having a custom rugs made to order will cost more than buying off-the-shelf, but at Bazaar Velvet this is not the case. This is because we don’t charge extra for our design services, and certain designs (including anything from our Core Collection or designs created from scratch) can be made in various different qualities or material combinations that are available at a lower price point.
A bespoke rug is the perfect opportunity to put your own stamp on a room. Rugs can be created from any custom artwork, whether that be an artwork you create yourself or one we create under your guidance. Inspiration is everywhere, from your favourite painting, piece of architecture or vintage fabric print. We can create you a beautiful unique rug that sits perfectly in line with your personal taste and is sure to be loved and cherished for years to come.
When it comes to rugs, sizing is paramount; and when you are having a rug made to order there is no need to compromise. Take time to measure your room and its furnishings, and mark out the floor space where the rug is to be placed. The shape and size of your rug should mirror the proportions of your room. Don’t forget square, circle and oval shapes, as well as shapes with cut outs are all options. Bespoke rugs are a great way to make the most of your space, so be generous when choosing the size of your rug and your room will benefit. As with any aspect of interior design, there are certain recommendations for rug placement that you should bear in mind.
The golden rule when it comes to placing a living room rug is that your feet should be resting on the rug when you are seated on the sofa. For a small room, one option is to place the rug almost up to the front legs of the sofa. However, generally we recommend placing the rug underneath the front legs of the sofa, allowing the rug to flow underneath, as this creates a sense of continuity. For a large room, you may even consider having items of furnishing completely on the rug. This can be used to create either an island effect with a walkway behind the furniture, or a fitted carpet effect with just a thin strip of bare flooring visible around the edges of the room.
Again, in the bedroom there are several different options to choose from. One is to place a rectangular rug underneath the bed, coming either all the way up to the headboard wall, or just in front on the bedside cabinets. Most importantly, at least 60cm of rug should frame the sides and foot of the bed for a soft rug walkway. The other option is to have runners either side of the bed, and possibly one at the foot. However, with a bespoke rug, there is an exciting third option. This is to have a U shaped rug made to fit around your bed. One of the appeals of this is no square meters are lost underneath your bed, saving material on rug that wouldn’t ever be seen.
A rug placed in a dining room needs to be large enough to allow the chairs to be pulled out from under the table without becoming caught on the edge of the rug. For an average sized chair, this would mean the rug has to extend at least 50cm away from the edge of the table. However, this is a minimum requirement and a dining room would in fact benefit from a much larger rug than this, bringing extra comfort to all who use the space.
Forming a budget for your custom rug early on in the design process is a very important. This is because there are a very wide range of qualities available at a range of different prices points, some of which are more suited to certain types of design. Square meter prices for our Nepalese hand knotted rugs range from around £500-£2000 per square meter, depending on the density of the weave (knot count) and the ratio of wool to silk used in the design. More complex designs require higher knot counts, so if you are working on a tight budget this will need to be taken into consideration.
We also offer a ‘Contract Quality’ which is a hand tufted quality, available at around £400 per square meter. However, this type of rug doesn’t have the longevity or the character of a hand knotted rug, and limits you to only simple designs.
Giving the design team at Bazaar Velvet an idea of budget constraints will help guide the design process in the right direction, for a stunning outcome that will meet your requirements.
When planning a bespoke rug, it is helpful to envision how you will interact with the rug in the room in which it is to be placed. How much will it be walked on? Will it be walked on with bare feet or shoes? Is it a space that is likely to be exposed to dirt or spillages? All of these factors will have an impact on the quality of rug you want to specify and its materials. The most heard wearing rug will be one that is hand knotted from 100% Himalayan Wool or with just small quantities of silk. Design and colour are also relevant when it comes to practicality, as medium tone rugs or rugs with a busy or irregular patterns will be far more forgiving than a very light or very dark plain design.
Although you may not have the skills to create a rug design from scratch, it is important to have a visual starting point for your rug. Inspiration can come from almost anywhere, from a pattern you’ve seen on a decorative object to a room you’ve seen on the internet. It’s also a good idea to browse the Bazaar Velvet website, as any of our Core Collection designs can be tweaked to meet your requirements. Other collections can also provide ideas for colour and the types of design currently popular in the rug market.
Of course the interior design scheme of the room should play a key role in determining your custom rug design. If you make a design appointment at the showroom, it’s helpful to bring fabric swatches, paint charts, flooring samples etc. as well as photos of the room, as they can help our team visualise what sort of designs and colours would work well for you.
At Bazaar Velvet we have an experienced design team that can make our clients rug dreams a reality. We work with both interior designers and end users across the globe and are extremely flexible in meeting our clients needs. For clients within reach of our showroom, we would usually recommend paying us a visit. This provides an opportunity to discuss design ideas and show clients examples of rugs and quality samples. Alternatively, depending on location, we may be able to visit the clients property and make recommendations on rug size, colour and design based on the room. We are also happy to work with clients further afield. An email with photos of the room and details of the project requirements (sizing, design vision, timescale, budget etc) is a good place to start. We can then discuss options and email visuals of possible designs. Fabric samples and yarn samples can be posted to clarify colours.
At Bazaar Velvet we can create designs from any artwork you can provide or even create custom artworks to meet your design vision. Anything is possible, but the more visual references you can provide the better. Submissions of artwork can take the form of a painting, a drawing, a graphic or more. Both hard copies and digital copies are accepted. The artworks are then processed using our specialist rug design program. This simplifies the design and reduces the colours to make them ‘weaveable’. Please note your rug design will not be printed or painted onto the rug, it will be woven into the rug itself with a separate yarn for every colour. Therefore the number of colour shades per rug is limited to around 25 colours.
At Bazaar Velvet we have an extremely extensive inventory of designs, incorporating both the Core Collection and Floor Art rugs found on our website, and hundreds of unique designs stored in our archive. These can be adjusted in both colour and design. For example adding or taking away borders and changing the scale of the design are both common requests that can be carried out with ease. We are happy to email examples of archive designs to our clients once we have an idea of the style of rug they are interested in.
At Bazaar Velvet we specialise in Hand Knotted rugs. This is the traditional method of rug making and is unbeatable in terms of the robustness, longevity and character of the finished rug. Most of our bespoke work is based in our workshop in Nepal. This is the same team responsible for creating our stunning Core Collection rugs, and they produce a beautiful quality pieces in a relatively short time scale of 16-18 weeks. Nepalese hand knotted rugs are available in various different densities which are known as knot counts. This is a number that measures the quantity of knots found in the rug per linear foot. The more knots, the finer the rug will be, meaning a higher level of detail can be achieved in the rugs design. The knot counts we offer at Bazaar Velvet range from 60 to 150 knots per foot. Our recommendations for each knot count are as follows:
This weave has a slightly chunky appearance and is suitable for plain and simple geometric designs. We use this knot count for our Starburst, Union, Tribeca, Nolita and Soho rug designs. Although straight lines and large scale gradual curves can be formed in this quality, it is not fine enough for tight curves which would instead appear jagged.
This weave has a much smoother appearance compared to the 60 knot and can achieve more detail in design. This means it can be used for more curvelinier designs. It is not however recommended for complex designs unless they are being made on a large scale (e.g. for a rug of 3x4m plus)
This is the most commonly used knot count at Bazaar Velvet, with the majority of the designs in our Core Collection being made in this quality as standard. The level of detail that can be achieved in this quality is sufficient for most types of rug design including simplified abstract and pictorial designs such as those found in our Street Art range.
This is the very finest weave we produce at Bazaar Velvet and can be used to create extremely complex designs. It can depict both fine lines and the intricate details found in finely drawn designs or complex abstract artworks.
Square meter prices will rise as the knot count increases due to the more intricate workmanship involved in creating the design. Therefore this is a topic worth discussing with the Bazaar Velvet team who will be happy to advise on the best knot count for your design. We have a range of quality samples we can show you to give you a better understanding of the concept and guide you through the process.
The majority of our rugs at Bazaar Velvet are created using Himalayan Wool and Chinese Silk. Himalayan Wool is one of the best quality wools available and is the ideal rug making material due its high moisture levels. This makes it soft to the touch as well as strong and easy to clean. Rugs can be made either entirely from this material or with silk elements. Introducing silk into a rug design will increase the price point, but a silk highlight can really lift a design and create luxurious matt/sheen finish. Rugs can also be made in other materials on request, including cashmere, hemp and bamboo silk which has a similar appearance Chinese Silk but is available at a much lower cost. If you have a specific material you would like for your bespoke rug, please let us know.
One of the most popular textural finishes for a hand knotted rug is high and low pile. This finish is added to a rug once it is taken off the loom and its shaggy pile has been trimmed down to a regular pile height. To create a high-low texture, certain sections of the design are clipped further leaving other sections raised. This technique is commonly used to highlight the primary pattern of the design or areas of silk. Similarly, aspects of the design may be carved around. This a more subtle approach, as it creates a small indent to form a border between two colours or materials. Both of these techniques can add another level of interest to a bespoke rug. They can be used on any style of design, but are of most importance in geometric rugs as they create a sense of crispness between the shapes that’s synonymous with a luxury product.
We also offer a hand tufted quality at Bazaar Velvet. This is a more modern method of rug production and is available at a lower price point. We use a 16/16 quality as standard, which is one of the highest density qualities available. This is however only suitable for simple designs, so again please contact the Bazaar Velvet team to find out if your design is suitable for this type of rug construction. Hand tufted rugs have a more uniform finish than a hand knotted rug. Although they don’t have the lifespan of a hand knotted rug, they do have the advantage of a shorter lead time, with most sizes taking 10-12 weeks to make.
Our Contract Quality hand tufted rugs are created using New Zealand Wool and/or Bamboo silk. Any combination of the two materials can be created at the same price point.
At Bazaar Velvet we are extremely flexible and can provide a very wide range of qualities on request. For larger projects we can even develop your own bespoke quality and create samples before commencing on the rug itself. Examples of other qualities include:
If you’re after a certain look, we’re happy to work with you to find the best quality to meet your needs. Just let us know your project requirements.
At Bazaar Velvet we understand the importance of being connected to the design process. Therefore we combine real life samples with specialist computer graphics to give you the best possible idea of what your finished rug will look like before the making process has even begun.
At Bazaar Velvet we use the latest rug design technology to create rug designs quickly and easily. Numerous colour and design variations can be created in a short space of time giving clients a wide range of options to choose from. This software allows you to see designs complete with texture as well as laid flat in a room setting, which give a clear vision of how the design would look like as a rug rather than just an artwork. Rugs can also be superimposed into your own room photos for a result even closer to reality.
We verify colours using our ARS colour system. This is composed of wool and silk ‘colour poms’ or yarn samples, which give a far more accurate representation of colour than on screen images. They can be viewed next to your fabric samples, or even on-site to ensure the best colour harmony. We also have a wide range of ready made samples in our showroom. These range from quality and material samples, to sections of our existing designs. These are a very useful visual tool to determine the best quality and finish for your bespoke rug design.
Once you are happy with your design, the making process can begin. Nepalese Hand Knotted Rugs have a lead time of around 16-18 weeks. They are made entirely by hand using traditional techniques, from the carding, spinning and dying of the wool, to the knotting of the carpet itself. 2-4 weavers will hand knot each rug, a process which takes several months to complete. Each rug is also finished by hand, and is the skilled work of dozens of artisans.
Hand Tufted rugs are a little quicker to produce as they are created by injecting fibres into a fabric backing. They take around 10-12 weeks to make.
Custom rugs are then shipped to our London rug shop and delivered to our happy clients. Seeing a bespoke rug in-situ is a wonderful experience, it’s so rewarding to see the outcome of such a personal design and making process and know it will be used and enjoyed for many years to come.
At Bazaar Velvet, we take on projects both large and small, and would love to find out more about your dream rug.
If you have any questions, or would just like to share your ideas, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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