Rangoli Mat 3FT - Pooja Aasan, 11 Designs, Reusable Diwali Decor

What a rangoli mat is

Rangoli is drawn on the floor at the threshold - traditionally in rice flour, coloured powder or flower petals, redrawn each morning of a festival. It is beautiful and it is a lot of work, and it is gone by evening. A rangoli mat is the same design worked in wool yarn on a backed base, so it goes down in seconds, survives being walked past, and comes out again next year.

Why this one

The pattern is embroidered in raised wool yarn rather than printed, so it has real depth under a lamp and it does not flatten into a photograph of a rangoli. The base is backed to keep the mat flat and stop it sliding on tile or hardwood. Colours are the festival palette - yellow, red, pink, green and blue - and because each mat is embroidered by hand, no two are identical.

This is the widest design choice we carry - eleven patterns at one size, so if you are matching an existing colour scheme or buying a second mat for a different room, the range is here.

Which design

• Mandala, IndianClassic and DesiAllure - geometric, the closest to a drawn rangoli
• ElegantFlower, PinkFlower, Marigold and Sunflower - floral
• Peacock and MusicalPeacock - peacock feather motifs
• RisingSun and LotusCorner - the two most graphic

All eleven are 36 inches across and the same price. Check the photographs before choosing - the design names describe the motif rather than the colourway, and most of these carry four or five colours.

Where it goes

At the front door or just inside it, which is where rangoli traditionally goes. In front of a mandir or a pooja shelf as an aasan. Under a floor lamp or a large plant as a colour anchor. In the centre of a room for a haldi, mehendi or naming ceremony. Under a low table at a gathering. It reads as decoration rather than as a rug, so it works in rooms that already have flooring you like.

The rest of the range

We make four: the round mat in 3FT and 4FT, the border mat set of two and the pom-pom and mirror rangoli set. The round mats sit in the middle of a floor or under a lamp; the border set runs along a threshold; the pom-pom set is rigid pieces you arrange rather than a single mat.

Gifting

A rangoli mat is one of the safest gifts to send an Indian household in the US - it needs no sizing, it is used every festival, and it solves a problem the recipient actually has. Tell us at checkout if you are sending it directly and we will leave the invoice out.