Custom Rugs Chicago — Bespoke
Hand-Knotted Commissions
Custom rugs Chicago homeowners and interior designers commission for rooms that deserve more than off-the-shelf. Designed in consultation with Ghorban, hand-knotted by master artisans in his network. Any size, any colourway, any pattern. 16–24 week lead time from our Skokie workshop.
- Any sizeFrom 2×3 to 20×30 ft
- Hand-knottedWool · silk · blend
- 16–24 weeksTypical lead time
- From $3,500Starting price · 6×9 wool
- IICRCCertified firm
- RICARUG Index Certified
- MuseumTrained methods
- In-House10,000 sq ft workshop
- 5.0 ★Google · 79+ reviews
- FreeInsured pickup
A rug made for
one room only
A bespoke commission is the opposite of buying off a shelf. Instead of fitting your room to a rug that already exists, we weave a rug to the exact dimensions, palette, and pattern your room asks for — knot by knot, on a loom, the way the great workshop pieces have always been made. The result is a single hand-knotted rug built to outlast the room it was made for.
If you are weighing options, three decisions shape everything that follows: construction, fibre, and density. Every Ahmadi rug is hand-knotted rather than hand-tufted, so it is built to last generations; the pile is wool, silk, or a blend chosen for the room’s traffic and light; and the weave density — measured in knots per square inch (KPSI) — sets how fine the drawing can be. If you already know your room, our rug sizing guide is the fastest place to start.
How a custom rug
comes together
The custom rug process is collaborative by nature. You bring the room — its dimensions, light, palette, existing pieces. We bring the technical knowledge: weave structure, pile height, knot density, dye chemistry, and the network of master weavers in our master conservator’s care. The five stages below run over 16–24 weeks — our timeline & production process guide explains what sets the schedule and how to plan a delivery date around it.
- 01
Consultation
Room dimensions, design brief, palette, existing pieces, and budget. In-person or by video — your choice.
- 02
Design
Pattern, colourway, scale drawings. We revise until it is exactly right before any weaving begins.
- 03
Materials
Fibre and dye selection matched to the pile’s intended use, light exposure, and traffic. Natural and vegetable dyes available.
- 04
Weaving
Hand-knotted by master weavers in Ghorban’s network. Progress photographs at 25%, 50%, and 75% completion.
- 05
Delivery
Inspected by our master conservator on arrival. Installed or delivered rolled. Includes care documentation and a 5-year structural guarantee.
Choose your material
New Zealand Wool
The most versatile and durable option. Natural lanolin provides inherent stain resistance. Ideal for high-traffic rooms.
Living rooms · dining roomsKork Wool
Baby-lamb wool — the finest grade. Exceptionally soft with a natural sheen. Used in city weaves like Tabriz and Isfahan.
Formal rooms · low trafficMulberry Silk
Extraordinary light reflectivity and depth of colour. Used for intricate patterns requiring fine detail. The most precious pile material.
Bedrooms · display piecesWool-Silk Blend
The best of both: wool’s durability anchors the foundation while silk highlights add luminosity to the pattern. The most requested combination.
Most rooms · most popular
The fibre decides how the
room feels and lasts.
There is no single best pile — only the right one for the room. Wool absorbs traffic and resists stains; silk reflects light and holds the finest detail; a blend gives you both. The same is true of density: a higher knot count buys finer drawing at a higher price and a longer loom time. If you want the full comparison before you commit, read our silk vs wool guide — it covers durability, care, and where each belongs.
What a commission costs,
and what sets the price.
Custom rugs start at $3,500 for a hand-knotted wool piece and scale with size, fibre, and knot density. The three tiers below are a guide, not a menu — every commission is quoted in writing before work begins. For worked examples by size and knot count, see our custom rug cost guide.
- Tier I · Wool
Hand-knotted wool
From $3,500New Zealand or kork wool on a cotton foundation, typically 100–200 KPSI. The everyday luxury commission — durable enough for a dining room, refined enough for a study. A 6×9 in this tier starts at $3,500.
Best for: Living rooms · dining rooms · studies - Tier II · Wool-silk
Wool foundation, silk highlights
$8,000–$20,000A wool ground carries the traffic while mulberry-silk highlights catch the light in the pattern. Higher knot counts (200–400 KPSI) allow finer drawing. The most-requested combination for principal rooms.
Best for: Formal living · primary bedrooms · entries - Tier III · Silk & city weave
Pure silk & fine city weaves
$20,000–$50,000+Full silk pile or Tabriz/Isfahan-grade weaves at 400–800+ KPSI. Months of work by a single master weaver. These are heirloom and display commissions — the pieces a room is built around.
Best for: Display pieces · heirloom commissions
Museum-trained eyes.
A master-weaver network.
A bespoke rug is only as good as the hands that draw it and the hands that weave it. Every Ahmadi commission is overseen by a master conservator trained under conservators whose work has served institutions including the Louvre, the British Museum, and the State Hermitage — the same eye that judges a centuries-old fragment guides a new design on the loom.
The weaving itself is carried out by master artisans in Ghorban Ahmadi’s long-standing network — weavers trained in the city traditions of Tabriz and Isfahan, not a production line. The result is a rug with the structure, density, and finish of a workshop heirloom, made new for your room.
“We do not make a rug to fill a room. We make a rug the room is built around.”
Made to order · Looking for an 8–12 week turnaround instead of a 16–24 week bespoke build?
See our made-to-order rug program →A glimpse at custom, customization,
and modification work.
Custom rug work- Custom rug craftsmanship
Rug customization
Custom rug fitting
Bespoke rug work
Rug modification & resizing
Professional rug modification
From loom to room
— installed on site.
Every custom piece is delivered and fitted in person. These are recent installations across Chicago and the North Shore — measured, adjusted, and set in place before we leave. When an existing rug needs to fit a new space, the same hands handle rug resizing — cut to size and re-finished so the change is invisible.
Custom rug fitting — precision to the last inch
Every custom piece is fitted to the exact room it was designed for. This is what that looks like in practice — measuring, adjusting, and getting it exactly right before the rug leaves our hands.
Watch on YouTube →Everything to know
before you commission.
Seven deeper guides on cost, construction, materials, density, sizing, the production timeline, and working with us as a designer — written to make the commission decision an informed one.
Custom rug cost guide
What drives price across wool, blend, and silk — with worked examples by size and knot count.
Read the guide →The commission timeline & process
Every phase from consultation to delivery, and what determines a 16- vs 24-week schedule.
Read the guide →Hand-knotted vs hand-tufted
Why construction is the single biggest factor in whether a rug lasts decades or years.
Read the guide →What KPSI means for knot density
How knots per square inch maps to detail, durability, and the price of a commission.
Read the guide →Silk vs wool
The trade-offs in durability, light, and detail — and when a blend is the right answer.
Read the guide →Rug sizing guide
Room-by-room measurements so a made-to-order rug lands at exactly the right dimension.
Read the guide →For Chicago interior designers
Trade pricing, CAD-overlay support, and how we slot into a designer’s project workflow.
Read the guide →
A weaving partner for
Chicago interior designers.
A significant share of our commissions come through designers across Chicago and the North Shore. Trade partners receive preferred pricing, a dedicated point of contact, CAD-overlay design support, progress photography for client presentations, and white-glove delivery. See how we slot into a project on our page for Chicago interior designers, then apply to the trade program below.
Common questions
What does a custom rug cost?
From $3,500 for a 6×9 hand-knotted wool rug. Wool-silk blends typically run $8,000–$20,000, and pure-silk or fine city weaves run $20,000–$50,000 and up. Price scales with size, knot density, and fibre. We provide a firm written quote before any work begins — see our custom rug cost guide for a full breakdown.
What is the difference between bespoke and made-to-order?
A bespoke commission is designed from scratch for your room — your pattern, your palette, your dimensions — and hand-knotted over 16–24 weeks. Made-to-order means selecting an existing design and having it woven to your size, with an 8–12 week turnaround. Both are hand-knotted; bespoke gives you full creative control, made-to-order trades some control for a faster timeline.
How long does a custom rug take to make?
Typically 16–24 weeks from design approval to delivery. Complex patterns, high knot counts, or large sizes (14×20 and above) may extend to 28 weeks. Our timeline and production process page walks through each phase and what drives the schedule.
What is the minimum and maximum size you can weave?
We start at 2×3 ft and weave up to roughly 20×30 ft as a single piece, with larger formats possible in sections. Most residential commissions are 8×10 or larger — that is where the medium gets interesting and where cost per square foot flattens out.
How do I choose the right rug size for my room?
As a rule, the rug should sit under the front legs of all the major seating in a living room, and extend 24–36 inches beyond a dining table so chairs stay on the pile when pulled out. Because we weave to order, we can hit an exact dimension rather than rounding to a stocked size — our rug sizing guide covers the room-by-room measurements.
What is hand-knotted, and how is it different from hand-tufted?
A hand-knotted rug is woven knot by knot on a loom, so the pattern is built into the structure and the piece can last generations. A hand-tufted rug is punched into a backing and glued, which is faster and cheaper but wears out in years, not decades. Every Ahmadi commission is hand-knotted — our hand-knotted vs hand-tufted explainer shows the difference in detail.
What does KPSI mean and why does it matter?
KPSI is knots per square inch — the measure of weave density. Higher KPSI allows finer detail and a more durable foundation, but takes longer to weave and costs more. Wool commissions typically run 100–200 KPSI; fine silk city weaves reach 400–800+. Our KPSI explained guide covers how knot density maps to quality and price.
Should I choose silk or wool?
Wool is durable, resilient, and naturally stain-resistant — the right choice for high-traffic rooms. Silk is more luminous and takes finer detail but is delicate and best reserved for low-traffic and display settings. Many of our commissions are a wool-silk blend that captures both. Our silk vs wool comparison breaks down the trade-offs.
What materials do you use?
New Zealand wool for durability, kork (baby-lamb) wool for softness and sheen, mulberry silk for fine detail and light, and wool-silk blends for the best of both. Foundations are cotton or silk depending on the weave. We match every fibre to the room’s traffic, light exposure, and intended use.
Can you match an existing colour palette or piece of furniture?
Yes. Bring paint chips, fabric swatches, or photographs and our master conservator will work with the dye master to match your palette within two to three shades. We can also pull a colourway from an existing rug, drapery, or artwork so the new piece reads as part of the room.
Can you design a rug to match my existing decor?
That is the core of a bespoke commission. We work from your room — its architecture, light, existing rugs and furniture, and the mood you are after — and develop a pattern and scale that belongs in that specific space rather than fighting it. Scale drawings are revised until they are right before any weaving begins.
Who designs the rug — and who owns the design?
The design is developed collaboratively between you (or your interior designer) and our studio, in consultation with Ghorban Ahmadi. The finished design is created for your commission and is yours — we do not resell a bespoke pattern as a stock product without your consent.
Can I see the rug being made?
Yes. We send progress photographs at roughly 25%, 50%, and 75% completion so you can see the pattern emerge on the loom. For larger commissions we can arrange more frequent updates, and the finished piece is always inspected by our master conservator before it ships.
Do you offer natural or vegetable dyes?
Yes. Natural and vegetable dyes are available for clients who want the depth and gentle variation (abrash) of traditional dyeing. Synthetic dyes offer tighter colour consistency and a wider gamut. We will recommend the right route for your palette and intended use.
Do you work with interior designers, and what are the trade terms?
Yes — a significant share of our commissions come through Chicago and North Shore interior designers. Trade partners receive preferred pricing, a dedicated point of contact, CAD-overlay design support, and white-glove delivery. See our page for Chicago interior designers, then apply through the trade partner program.
How is the rug delivered and installed?
Every custom piece is delivered and fitted in person across Chicago and the North Shore — measured, adjusted, and set in place before we leave. Out-of-area commissions ship rolled and insured with full care documentation. If an existing rug needs to fit a new space, the same hands handle rug resizing so the change is invisible.
Is there a guarantee on a custom rug?
Yes. Every commission includes a 5-year structural guarantee covering the foundation and weave under normal residential use, plus care documentation for the specific fibres and dyes used. A hand-knotted rug, properly cared for, is built to outlast that guarantee by generations.
What credentials stand behind the work?
Ahmadi Rug is an IICRC-certified firm, and our commissions are overseen by a master conservator trained under conservators whose work has served institutions including the Louvre, the British Museum, and the State Hermitage. The weaving is carried out by master artisans in Ghorban Ahmadi’s long-standing network.
From our journal
- 01
Commissioning a Custom Hand-Knotted Rug — Timeline, Pricing, Process
How a bespoke commission works — brief, mockup, loom set-up, weaving, finishing — with realistic timelines and per-knot pricing.
Read article - 02
How to Identify a Vintage or Antique Rug
A practical reference — knot count, knot type, foundation fibre, dye indicators, and field pattern as read from the back.
Read article - 03
What Is My Rug Worth? The Five Factors That Determine Value
How to find a credible value for a Persian or Oriental rug — what makes one worth $500 versus $50,000.
Read article - 04
The Interior Designer's Guide to Rug Care on Luxury Installs
A working reference for designers and architects in Chicago — pre-install prep, handling protocol, cleaning cadence by room.
Read article
Every room deserves a rug
made for it.
The consultation is free and takes 45 minutes. Bring room photos, paint chips, fabric swatches — anything that captures what you are after.