Commission a Rug

If you are interested in ordering a custom rug, contact Judy by email.

Mapusha rugs

We receive the carded sheep’s wool from Port Elizabeth in big burlap bags and the spinners are the first to work the smooth, raw fibers into circles of wool to be spun into thread. Anna Mduli and Anna Nduzukula work together to provide the wool for the weavers.

Gertrude Mbetsi, Lizbeth Mathonsi and Angy Debarwane are the coop’s top rug weavers. They are part of each step in the process. Once the wool is spun, they—

• Dye the wool
• Prepare it for weaving
• Warp the tapestry loom
• and weave a rug

The rugs made by the Mapusha weavers are simple, beautiful and durable. The Karakul wool is strong and the tapestry technique makes for a tightly woven rug.

The weavers can do almost any design but we focus on geometrics, African scenes, and simple curves.

Rugs can be woven to your size specifications. The standard size rug is 1m x 1.5m (approximately 3′ x 5′). Contact Judy for current prices.