Grey and Ochre Silk Ikat Cushion Cover

Two ochre almonds meet at the centre of a grey-blue ground, joined by a dark red form between them. Read quickly it makes a heart; read slowly it is the paired badom that has been drawn on Uzbek cloth for generations.

Product details

• Product: ikat cushion cover — cover only, no insert included
• Composition: 70% silk, 30% cotton
• Front and back: the same handwoven ikat on both faces, so the cover is reversible
• Size: 50 × 50 cm (20 × 20 in); takes a 50 cm or 55 cm insert, the larger one for a fuller look
• Closure: concealed zip in the side seam
• Main colours: grey-blue, ochre, dark red, cream
• Motif: paired almond motifs
• Care: Hand wash in cool water with the insert out, or dry-clean; do not wring; dry flat in the shade; iron on the reverse while slightly damp
• Origin: cloth handwoven in Margilan, Fergana Valley; cover cut and sewn in Bukhara

Where it goes

It suits a grey or blue sofa, a bedroom chair, or a pair on a bed where the ochre warms the room. More ikat cushion covers, or the same cloth by the metre if you would rather sew your own.

How this ikat is made

The pattern is tied and dyed into the warp threads before a single row is woven — abrbandi, the cloud-binding. The weaver works to a design that exists only as knots on a stretched warp, and every extra colour is another round of tying and dyeing. That is why the edges feather rather than cut sharp, and why no two covers are quite the same. The cloth is handwoven in Margilan, in the Fergana Valley; the cover is cut and sewn in our own workshop in Bukhara.

Sewn to order and dispatched from Bukhara within 24 hours by Uzbekiston Pochtasi tracked airmail: USA 9–18 working days, Europe and the UK 8–16, elsewhere 10–20. Custom sizes take 2–3 working days.