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Production · Designer Reference

How Long Does a Custom Rug Take — and What Happens at Each Stage

The honest timeline by tier, the seven milestones in detail, what actually causes delays, and how to set expectations a client will hold you to.

The honest answer

A custom hand-knotted rug takes anywhere from 8–12 weeks for a hand-tufted Studio piece to 36–52 weeks for a pure-silk Reserve commission. The variable is construction: more knots per square inch means more weaver-hours, and silk at 450+ KPSI is the slowest, most exacting work we do. Critically, the timeline starts at brief approval — not at first contact, and not at the first conversation with your client. Estimating, sampling discussions, and budget back-and-forth all happen before the clock starts.

TierTimeline
Atelier12–16 weeks
Signature18–22 weeks
Maison24–32 weeks
Reserve36–52 weeks
Studio8–12 weeks
The process

The 7 production milestones

  1. 1

    Design brief approved

    Scope, size, palette, pattern direction, and budget are locked in writing. You receive a confirmed brief and the deposit invoice. Sampling begins within days — the clock starts here, not at first contact.

  2. 2

    Cartoon (pattern) approved

    The pattern is drawn to scale (the “cartoon”) and sent for sign-off. No yarn is ordered until you approve it. Budget one to two weeks here; this is the most common place a project stalls on revisions.

  3. 3

    Yarn and dye samples approved

    Yarn is dyed to the exact colorways and physical samples are shipped to you. Weaving does not begin without written approval. Usually one to three weeks, depending on how many dye rounds it takes to land the color.

  4. 4

    Loom set-up photograph sent

    Warp threads are strung on the loom and the first border rows woven. You receive a photograph of the rug on the loom — warp setup and initial border. Time to the next photo depends on size and KPSI.

  5. 5

    25% woven — progress photo

    Weaving is well underway. You receive a progress photograph at roughly quarter completion, confirming the weave is tracking to the approved pattern and density.

  6. 6

    50% woven — progress photo

    The midpoint photograph. This is the final practical opportunity to flag a colour or pattern concern before too much of the rug is committed.

  7. 7

    Finishing, blocking, delivery

    Washing, blocking, and fringe finishing, followed by a final inspection. Delivery is scheduled and the provenance record is issued with the rug.

What causes delays

Delays are predictable, and almost all of them happen before the loom is even strung:

  • Yarn and dye approval rounds — the single most common delay. Landing an exact colorway can take two or three sample rounds, and each round is a shipping cycle.
  • Pattern complexity revisions — changes to the cartoon after it has been drawn mean re-drawing and re-approving before anything proceeds.
  • Client indecision at milestone 2 — the cartoon sign-off is where projects stall. Yarn is not ordered until it clears, so every day of indecision is a day the timeline does not move.

None of these are weaving delays. The weave itself runs to schedule once it begins — the front half of the calendar is where time is won or lost.

How to set client expectations

Quote the timeline from brief approval, not from the first conversation. Tell the client the project “starts when we lock the brief,” and make the deposit and sign-off the visible starting line. Build a two-week buffer for approval rounds into whatever date you give them, because the approval cycles above are the part you cannot fully control. Then communicate milestone completion proactively— forward each loom and progress photo as it arrives. A client who gets a photo at every stage does not call asking where their rug is.

Rush timelines

We do not offer them. A hand-knotted rug is built knot by knot, and the weave cannot be accelerated without compromising the knot structure and the consistency of the pile. We would rather lose the job than ship a rushed rug that fails early — so we will tell you the real timeline and hold to it, and we will not promise a date the loom cannot keep.

Browse construction tiers and timelines on the collections overview, or see how the whole program fits together for Chicago interior designers.

Lock the brief. Start the clock.

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