The Rare Runners Edit | Handmade Hallway, Kitchen and Bedroom Runners

A runner is one of the most versatile pieces in a home, and yet most people do not realise how many problems a single piece can solve.

A well-chosen runner does not just cover a floor, it connects a kitchen, warms a bedroom, anchors a staircase, and of course, adds character to a hallway.

Most people reach for something generic when what the space actually needs is a piece with real character.

The Rare Runners collection is our answer to that. A personally curated edit of vintage runners that are hard to come by, from weaving regions that produced some of the finest narrow-format pieces in the history of rug-making.

A rare runner is not just old or unusual in size. It is a piece where the weaving tradition, the condition, the colour, and the scale all come together in a way that Najaf rarely sees twice. After 40 years of handling rugs, he has a very clear sense of when something is worth stopping for. 

Every piece in this collection made him stop.

Ardabil & Meshkin runners come from the northwest corner of Iran, a city with a weaving history that stretches back over 2000 years. The designs tend toward intricate all-over geometric and floral repeats, and the colour palettes are typically deep and considered.

The designs are what make these rugs genuinely rare. Ardabil weavers have always woven from memory, which means the human figures, animals, birds and tribal symbols that appear across the field are not copied from a pattern. They are personal.

Sarouk is one of the most celebrated weaving regions in all of Persia, known for its dense pile, its fine knotting, and its richly coloured floral designs. Unlike many neighbouring weaving traditions, Sarouk patterns rarely leave space unadorned. The field is typically filled edge to edge with curving vines, layered blossoms, palmettes and scrolling foliage arranged in harmonious repetition.

Chobi runners come from Afghanistan and take their name from the Farsi word for wood, a reference to the natural, earthy tones produced by vegetable dye on hand-spun wool. The colours remind weavers of timber, and the palette, warm creams, dusty blues, soft terracottas and muted greens, is exactly why Chobi rugs have found such a strong following in contemporary interiors.

A vintage rug carries stories and memories that a newly woven piece cannot. Every runner in this collection has a life before it arrived here. It was made by a weaver who learned the craft from the person before them and worked from a pattern held in memory.

A contemporary rug made for a minimalist interior is designed to disappear into a space, to coordinate rather than to stand out. A vintage runner does the opposite. It brings a point of view into a room, a sense that the floor has something to say. For the homes that are moving away from the staged and the perfectly matched and toward spaces that feel collected and genuinely lived in, a vintage runner is one of the most considered things you can bring through the door.