Gul Rug 5x8 · Hand-Knotted WoolGul Rug 5x8 | Red, Burgundy, Black & Ivory | Hand-Knotted Wool

The gul, a tribal emblem

Who weaves them. Turkmen rugs come from Turkmen families of northern Afghanistan, heirs of the Ersari and Tekke weaving traditions of Central Asia. In the West they are often called Bokhara, after the old market city where they were traded.

What to look for. Rows of the gul, an octagonal medallion that each tribe used as its own emblem, on a deep madder-red field. The look is orderly and calm, and it suits both traditional and modern rooms.

Your rug. This 6x9 Turkmen rug was woven by hand, one knot at a time. No other rug in the world is exactly like it.

Made by hand, in a family home

This rug was woven on a loom inside a family’s own home, most often by women, one knot at a time. A rug this size takes about three months to weave, which means steady income for a family in a country where paying work is scarce. We buy directly from weaving families and workshops we know, with no factories and no middlemen.

• Wool: sheared, washed and combed, then spun into yarn, much of it by hand.
• Dye: dyed in small batches, so every rug has gentle color shifts (abrash).
• Weaving: knotted by hand from a pattern or from memory, row after row.
• Finishing: beaten, sheared, singed, washed, stretched and dried by hand.

Read how our rugs are made

Rugistan® was founded in 2021 by Shams Frough. He served five years alongside U.S. forces as an interpreter in his native Afghanistan, then made Chicago home, where he put himself through college and is still studying today.

Shams and his wife run Rugistan® together, with showrooms in Evanston and Chicago. He still travels to the weaving regions himself and buys most of our rugs in person, from the families and workshops who make them. That's how we keep our prices fair. We also clean and repair handmade rugs.