Handmade Runner Rugs

Persian Runners

A runner is not simply a narrow carpet. The design has to work when you can only ever see part of it at once, and when you always view it lengthways. Persian runners are built around repeating motifs for exactly that reason — a herati field, a repeating boteh, a linked medallion chain — patterns with no single focal point that the eye can follow along the length of a corridor.

Getting the proportions right

Leave 10 to 20 cm of floor visible on each side; a runner that reaches wall to wall reads as fitted carpet and loses its effect. In length, aim to stop roughly 30 cm short of the end of the hallway rather than running the full distance. For stairs, measure the tread and riser of every step and add 10 percent — stairs are almost never as regular as they look.

Wear

Runners take more punishment per square metre than any other rug in a house. Choose wool over silk without exception, favour a denser pile, and rotate the runner end for end every six months so the entrance section is not the only part that wears. A good wool runner will handle twenty years of a busy hallway.

We can source custom lengths from our Iranian suppliers where a standard size will not fit. Allow eight to twelve weeks.