johno du plessis

hand-stitched cowhide rugs made in south africa

rugs homepage

    the way in which the component pieces for any rug are arranged determines its layout configuration

    choose from four standard rug layouts, all of which are fashioned using one of three classic stitch-designs — mosaic, petite croix or pixel — to create rugs of virtually any size

    or choose the soft-centre layout which can use either the mosaic, petite croix or pixel stitch-designs to create rugs of almost any size; or the jumble stitch-design, which has its own couple of increment possibilities

    or from three exclusive rug layouts, all of which employ a combination of two-or-more shapes and have their own stitch-designs — fusion or trigon — as well as their own size limitations

organic

both the markings and the colour in the hides are used to create a "natural flow" of tone and hue across the rug's surface

click on any image alongside for more organic examples

rug layouts

soft-centre

the tones in the hides are used to create a border, moving from the darkest at the edges to light at the centre

click on any image alongside for more soft-centre examples

soft-graphic

the tones in the hides are used to create a range of symbols; only the pixel stitch design is used for these layouts

click on any image alongside for more graphic examples

block-ripple

both markings and colour are used to create contrasting bands laid out in concentric blocks.

click on any image alongside for more ripple examples

bypass the information below and click on any above link to move directly to a page of relevant rug-layout examples

uni-dom

plain hides have no markings and are either almost monochromatic (which makes for a uniform palette) or have varying degrees of tonal range (which results in a seemingly random scattering of colour across the surface)

click on any image alongside for more uni-dom examples

mid-century

a combination of shapes and a variety of hides are used to create a trio of mid-century layouts

click on any image alongside for more mid-century examples

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afro-jack

three contrasting hides are used to create this iconic union jack layout — size will always be 155 X 245cm

click on any image alongside for more afro-jack examples

penrose

any hide choice can be used to fashion these blunt-edged circles, creating several layout options — uniform, organic or soft-centre

click on any image alongside for more penrose examples