Every Labyrinth rug I have made has paired a New Zealand wool ground with a second yarn in the raised hedge walls of the maze. That second yarn gives the pattern its glint, the slight shift in light that lets you read the path from across a room. Until now it was bamboo silk. Going forward, every made-to-order Labyrinth rug is tufted with TENCEL™ Lyocell instead.
It is a change I have wanted to make for a while, and I want to explain it plainly, because the reason has as much to do with what bamboo silk is as with what lyocell does better.
What bamboo silk actually is
Bamboo silk is not silk, and by the time it reaches a rug it has very little to do with bamboo. It is viscose rayon: plant cellulose, often from bamboo pulp, dissolved in chemicals and spun back into a fiber. The Federal Trade Commission requires textiles made this way to be labeled as rayon for exactly that reason. It is lovely the day it is installed, with a liquid sheen and a soft hand, but viscose is a fragile fiber underfoot. It loses roughly half its strength when it gets wet, which is why a spilled glass of water can leave a lasting mark, and why viscose pile tends to crush and discolor in the paths people walk.
I have told readers for years to be wary of viscose in a hardworking room. A wool rug with a small proportion of bamboo silk in the pattern is a very different thing from an all-viscose rug, but I wanted the accent yarn in my own collection to live up to the wool around it.
What TENCEL™ Lyocell is
TENCEL™ Lyocell is the lyocell fiber produced by Lenzing, the Austrian fiber maker. It starts from the same family of raw material as viscose, cellulose from wood, but the process differs in the ways that count. The wood comes from certified or controlled sources under Lenzing's wood and pulp policy, and the fiber is spun in a closed-loop process that recovers more than 99 percent of the solvent and feeds it back into production. Conventional viscose relies on carbon disulfide, a much harsher chemistry.
The difference carries through to the fiber itself. Lyocell is more tightly structured than viscose, which makes it stronger when dry and far stronger when wet, holding most of its strength where viscose gives up about half.
What changes in the rug
On the floor, the design reads the way it always has. The hedge walls of the maze still sit proud of the wool ground and still catch the light, so the path stays legible from the doorway and soft underfoot.
The change is in how the rug lives. Because lyocell keeps its strength when damp, a spill on the raised pattern is much less likely to leave the watermark or flattened patch that bamboo silk was prone to, and the pile holds up better to everyday traffic. That makes a Labyrinth rug an easier decision for a dining room, a bedroom, or a family room where the rug is meant to be used and not just admired.
What stays the same
Everything else about the collection. Anatolia, Lucca, Knossos, Amiens and Theseus keep their patterns, and so does the round Amiens. The five colorways stay: Boxwood Green, Blueberry Blue, Sky Blue, Wheat Tan and Peony Pink. Each rug is still hand-tufted by artisans in India, made to order in six to eight weeks, and can be customized in size, shape and color.
Caring for a TENCEL™ Lyocell rug
Lyocell is more forgiving than bamboo silk, but it is still a cellulose fiber, so I treat it with the same care as the wool around it. Blot spills right away with a clean white cloth, work from the outside in, and skip steam cleaning and home shampooing. Deep cleaning belongs with a professional who knows hand-tufted construction. My full rug care guide covers the rest.
If you already own a Labyrinth rug
Rugs made before this change carry bamboo silk in the pattern, and so does the in-stock 4x6 Anatolia in Blueberry Blue. Nothing about them needs to change. Keep them dry, blot rather than scrub, and follow the bamboo silk notes in the care guide. Color can read slightly differently between the two yarns, so if you are pairing a new rug with an older one in the same room, it is worth comparing the two before you order.
The Labyrinth was the first collection I designed, and giving it a better accent yarn felt overdue. The new construction runs across the whole Labyrinth Collection, from the Greek key geometry of the Anatolia to the concentric rings of the round Amiens.
Frequently asked questions
Is TENCEL™ Lyocell the same as bamboo silk?
No. Both are made from plant cellulose, but bamboo silk is viscose rayon, while TENCEL™ Lyocell is a lyocell fiber made in a closed-loop process. Lyocell is the stronger of the two, especially when wet.
Is TENCEL™ Lyocell real silk?
No. It is a wood-based cellulose fiber with a silky hand and a soft sheen. Neither TENCEL™ Lyocell nor bamboo silk comes from silkworms.
Can a TENCEL™ Lyocell rug get wet?
It handles moisture far better than bamboo silk, so an everyday spill is not the emergency it would be on viscose. Blot it promptly, and leave deep cleaning to a professional rather than soaking the rug at home.
Are older Labyrinth rugs made with bamboo silk?
Yes. Rugs made before the change, including the in-stock 4x6 Anatolia, use bamboo silk in the raised pattern.
Did anything else about the Labyrinth rugs change?
No. The designs, colorways, sizes, hand-tufted construction and six to eight week lead time are the same.
TENCEL™ is a trademark of Lenzing AG.
