What the tuft?

rugmaking is an ancient artform people have used to tell stories, warm halls or huts and soften their floors. Woven or knotted, knit or crochet, sewn or tufted. There’s endless ways of creating textile artpieces and humans have been making them for thousands of years. Carpets have evolved with the makers and their cultures, the hands that designed and crafted them telling the stories of time. So what makes a rug tufted, you ask?

The word "tufting" derives from the Old French word "tofu," which means "to tuft" or "to gather." The term refers to the process of creating tufts or clusters of yarn that form the pile in textiles. This concept of gathering fibers together is central to the technique of tufting, which involves inserting yarn into a backing material to create a textured surface. Over time, "tufting" has become specifically associated with the method used in rug-making and upholstery.

If we’re talking about tofu, I might as well use ramen noodles as a metaphor. Imagine the noodles being made, a paste is pushed through a machine and every so-many-centimeters the noodles are cut. The same happens with the yarn that goes through a tufting machine.

Tufting feels like painting with yarn, coloring in a canvas with fur. The result is a piece of art that is sturdy and tactile, that’s meant to be touched and walked over, that absorbs sound and warms a space.