How to Care for Your Hand-Knotted Rug

After 20 years of designing hand-knotted rugs, I've seen beautiful pieces age gracefully for decades, and I've seen others damaged by well-meaning but incorrect cleaning methods. The difference almost always comes down to a few simple habits.

Here's what I tell every client who invests in one of our rugs.

How often should you vacuum a hand-knotted rug?

The best thing you can do for your rug is vacuum it regularly: once a week for rooms with normal traffic, twice for busy areas. But there's a catch: use suction only. Turn off the beater bar or rotating brush. Those spinning bristles are designed for machine-made carpet and will pull at the hand-knotted pile, loosening fibres over time.

Vacuum in the direction of the pile, not against it. If you're not sure which direction that is, run your hand across the surface: the smooth direction is with the pile.

How do you remove a spill from a hand-knotted rug?

When something spills (and it will), blot immediately with a clean, dry cloth. Press down, lift, repeat. Never rub. Rubbing pushes the liquid deeper into the fibres and can distort the pile.

For most spills, cold water and a clean cloth are enough. Avoid household carpet cleaners; they're formulated for synthetic fibres and can strip the natural oils from wool.

For our Indian carpets, the wool is hand-spun and hand-carded in Kashmir and Bikaner. For the carpets we make in Nepal, we use Tibetan wool. Both are naturally resilient and contain lanolin, a wax that makes the fibre water-resistant and dirt-repellent. Harsh chemicals remove that lanolin permanently.

How often should you rotate a rug?

Every year, rotate your rug 180 degrees. This evens out wear patterns and, just as importantly, exposure to sunlight. Even in rooms that don't get direct sun, UV light gradually shifts colours on one side more than the other. A yearly rotation keeps the aging uniform.

What should you never do to a hand-knotted rug?

Don't steam clean a hand-knotted rug. Ever. Steam cleaning forces hot water and chemicals deep into the foundation, where the cotton or silk warps and wefts sit. It can cause shrinkage, colour bleeding, and it destroys the lanolin in wool fibres. I've seen rugs come back from steam cleaning looking a decade older.

The same goes for soaking. A hand-knotted rug with a cotton foundation can take days to dry fully, and if moisture stays trapped, mildew follows.

How often should you have a hand-knotted rug professionally cleaned?

A professional wash every 3 to 5 years is enough for most rugs. Look for a specialist who works specifically with hand-knotted rugs, not a general carpet cleaning service. The specialist should wash with cold water, use pH-neutral soap, and dry the rug flat or on a gentle incline. Ask how they dry their rugs. If the answer involves a tumble dryer, walk away.

Do you need a rug pad under a hand-knotted rug?

A good quality rug pad stops the rug sliding, absorbs some of the daily wear so the pile doesn't take all the impact, and lets air circulate underneath. That air circulation matters: it prevents moisture from getting trapped between the rug and the floor, which is especially important on stone or concrete surfaces.

Choose a pad made from natural rubber or felt, cut slightly smaller than the rug so it doesn't show at the edges.

How do you protect a wool rug from moths?

Wool is a natural protein fibre, and moths love it. Check the corners and edges of your rug periodically, particularly areas that sit under furniture or against walls where it's dark and undisturbed. Small holes, fine webbing, or tiny sand-like grains are signs of moth larvae.

If you spot them early, a thorough vacuuming of both sides usually solves the problem. A few hours of fresh air help too, but keep the rug out of direct sun. That is the same UV exposure the yearly rotation is meant to limit. For serious infestations, consult a professional.

Care & Fair

Our production is Care & Fair certified, which means every rug supports education and healthcare programmes in the knotting communities where they're made.

What It Comes Down To

Vacuum it, rotate it, and deal with spills before they set. A hand-knotted rug cared for that way will still be here long after the interior around it has been redone.

If you have questions about caring for a specific rug, contact us.