Mood boards the factory can actually make
Designers lose weeks when a client-approved palette turns out to be undyable in wool. PiHue's colour library is a 2,400-shade in-house dye reference, mapped to Pantone with CIE76 ΔE scores — so you pre-flight your palette against what's physically achievable before sampling begins. Build a 10-colour mood board, share the link with the client, download a branded PDF.
The designer workflow we built for
- Pull physical references first. Fabrics, paint chips, timber samples spread under daylight. The screen version of this exercise misleads.
- Open the colour library. Filter by family (red / green / blue / neutral / etc.) + ΔE match quality. Click Close on the Pantone-match chip to see only shades reproducible at ΔE 2–5 — the retail-programme sweet spot.
- Build a mood board (up to 10 colours). Click tiles to add to the palette tray at the bottom of the screen.
- Name it and share. Each palette gets a shareable URL (
/colours/?pick=F150,3H12,...) — send to the client, same palette loads on their device, no sign-in. - Download a branded PDF. Client-ready, A4 landscape with PiHue Creations header, date stamp, palette blocks with code + hex + Pantone + ΔE.
- Request physical pom-strips. Free for serious enquiries. Hold under the room's actual lighting before you commit to sampling.
Pantone pre-flight — the difference between “wool can make this” and “we tried”
If the client gives you a brand-standard Pantone, open the Pantone matcher, paste the code. You see the five nearest wool codes and five nearest viscose/silk codes with their own ΔE scores. The top match tells you what's reproducible:
- ΔE < 2 — essentially identical. Approve the wool code.
- ΔE 2–5 — close. Lab dip confirms; buyers accept under separated lighting.
- ΔE 5–10 — visible shift. Flag at client approval.
- ΔE > 10 — outside wool's natural dye gamut. Propose honest alternative before billing for samples.
Across our library, 61% of codes (1,462 of 2,400) lab-dip to within industry-acceptable Pantone match. The remaining 15% that resolve "loose" are usually fluorescents or screen-primary RGB saturations — colours that don't really exist as dyed protein fibre. Honest flag beats a disappointed client.
Construction choices by design intent
| Design intent | Suggested construction | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Heirloom, gallery, premium hospitality | Hand-knotted | Sharp design fidelity, 50–100 year life |
| Fast retail, carved relief, loop-and-cut | Hand-tufted | 3–5× faster lead time than knotted; textured surfaces |
| Long rooms, runners, broadloom | Handloom | Wide continuous weaves, plain or lightly figured |
| Layering, warm-climate, lightweight | Flatweave (dhurrie / kilim) | Lightest weight, lowest cost, limited colours (2–6) |
Every construction available in wool, silk, or a wool-base-with-silk-accents combination.
How many colours should your rug actually have?
- Flatweave / dhurrie — 2–6 colours (shuttle changes slow the loom)
- Handloom — 1–3 (plain, heather, or lightly figured)
- Hand-tufted — 5–15 colours
- Hand-knotted — 10–30; signature pieces hit 40+
Each additional colour adds ~10 days lab-dip time + a 1 kg minimum dye lot. We recommend capping most retail programmes at 15 unless the design truly needs more.
Common questions from designers
Can I send a Pantone number or do you need a physical swatch?
Either works. Pantone (TCX/TPG) is fastest — we match to the nearest PiHue code with ΔE score and lab-dip from there. Physical swatches are matched by our colourist and lab-dipped the same way.
What's the MOQ for a one-off designer commission?
1 piece. The dye house runs a minimum 1 kg yarn per colour per lot — enough for 2–3 small rugs or portion of a larger one. Lab-dip cost is credited back on orders above threshold.
Do you provide CAD renderings before sampling?
Yes. Send your artwork (CAD, sketch, mood-board image) to our design team; we redraw as a knot map or tufting guide and share a 3D render for approval before yarn is cut.
Can the mood-board PDF have my studio's branding?
The current PDF carries PiHue Creations branding (we're the manufacturer). For co-branded palette presentations, contact us — we produce bespoke boards for ongoing design partnerships.
Build a palette, share it with the client
Open the library, add up to 10 shades, send the URL to the client, download the branded PDF. When the palette is locked, send it to our Bhadohi floor for sampling.