Nalah Blocked Ivory Cream Handwoven Rug

Nalah is a mountain in the Koh-e Baba mountain range, an offshoot of the Hindu Kush in eastern Afghanistan. In the valleys below, sheep graze in the rich, green pastures of Ghazni, the large province known for its extremely durable and long fiber wool. Ghazni wool is rich in lanolin – a fatty, oily substance that protects the sheep against the harsh elements of the highland mountains. The high content of lanolin gives the wool silk like luster, incredible strength, and the purest possible natural shade of white. Once the wool is sheared, it is hand carded and spun into yarn by hand. This is the best way to preserve the lanolin in the wool that will make its way into every Nalah rug.

The washing process once the rug is woven is equally important. Here manufacturers often use various chemicals to wash the rug. This expedites the production of the rug, but also takes away some of the natural lanolin that would otherwise remain in the wool. Our Nalah rugs are washed instead using organic soaps, without the use of such chemicals. This requires a significantly greater number of washes for the rug but allows the wool to retain all its natural oils, luster, and softness. Furthermore, the use of organic soaps means that the rug will not emit any odors.

These rugs can be custom ordered in any size, with surprisingly short lead times considering they’re handwoven exclusively in Afghanistan.

PANTONE shades: We do our best to find the closest match to one or multiple colors in the rug. The shade card we choose may not always be the perfect one, but we do our best (it’s a lot of work)! At times we may show multiple shade cards so you can get a better sense of color. Finally, when photographing rugs from the same group (shipment, collection, SKU, etc.) we will often use one or two shade card(s) so that you can get a good sense of the coloration. Hope you enjoy viewing our beautiful rugs!