presented by Area Rugs Club
Area Rugs: Handmade vs Machine-Made
Have you ever wanted to be able to tell if a rug is handmade or machine-made? If so, look no further! We have put together an easy to read article as well as images, and a video to teach you the basics which always give away how a rug was constructed. We tried to keep it brief and hope you find it helpful and fun! Go here to learn about Area Rugs: Handmade vs Machine-Made.
These days, you cannot buy an area rug from a reputable seller without being offered free shipping; the two go hand in hand. It is always nice to know that companies care about not only the selling part but also the safe and trouble free shipping of your precious area rug. With the area rug industry growing with leaps and bounds, the aim shifts from only selling the product to creating a new bond between the company and it’s valued customer, you. Free shipping is one of the most important values that can be added to the selling of a product. Customers love it, and when it comes to be a matter of choice, they will always go for that area rug which comes with free shipping.
AreaRugsClub.com offers free shipping and no tax!
Speaking of area rugs, the limits to your choice are endless. From the representation of your whimsical desire to pure class and elegance, the area rug of today provides for all of that with little or rather no difficulty at all. With the shattering of the barrier between the machine woven area rug and the handmade, the diversification in terms of quality, style and design is wondrous. And, the best part is that you don’t have to pay a single cent to ship it to anywhere you want. They have not started fedexing to moon at the time of this writing, but if there were people up there, and they were buying area rugs, I wouldn’t be surprised if these dealers offered free shipping. In today’s competitive market, that is, to reiterate, one of the best values that a seller can add to that splendid rug for your home décor.
Do not be under the impression that you have to spend a lot of money in order to elevate the mood of your home to a new exquisite height. An area rug does the job with acute precision. Brands like the famous Karastan sell affordable area rugs that will simply blow your mind. Though Karastan manufactures machine made rugs; don’t get fooled with that, because when placed beside a handmade rug, even the experts have doubts deciding which one is the machine-made one and which the handmade. To create something like this, a complete mimicry of human artwork, this is sheer mechanical excellence. It is not though that Karastan makes only machine made area rugs, as they import a lot of Persian rugs and Indian ones. Whether handmade or machine woven, one general assurance that the brand provides you is the guarantee of the quality of the wool, which is used to manufacture the rugs. Karastan uses wool of the highest quality to make their wonder rugs. This is a guarantee that has been there since 1928 and they intend to keep it that way, with no compromises on this one, ever.
Discount rugs are available from most dealers and you’d be amazed to see the level of quality you can get even when there is the discount tag attached to it. The discount is not because the rugs are bad but rather it is the celebration of the goodwill of the various companies as they are out to provide the customer satisfaction and in return, the inception of a life long relationship between them. The free shipping policy plays a pivotal role in developing this relationship.
Choice of material is never a matter of constraint. So what if you don’t like wool? There’s so much to choose from. New materials and fibers are being introduced constantly, in an effort to provide you the best possible option that you can have for your home. For example, manufacturers are using nylon in ways that you can’t imagine. It won’t even feel like nylon to you. Some may say that this is overworking the methods of rug making but on the contrary, it is the evidence of the untiring dedication of the manufacturers to furnish the maximum possible choices for you. They are very well aware of the fact that your home is important to you and it is important that you get an exhaustive range of options from which you can find the perfect one for your home.
Rugs and home; the former complements the latter and becomes the pride of any home owner for whom the look and feel of his or her home matters. This relationship has its own history and the variety of rugs that are found all across the globe are a testament to it. The Persians made their rugs a whole aspect of their identity and so did many other cultures. The explanation is simple, because rugs can define one’s home, add that essential warmth and color to any part of your home. This wonderful property of the area rug makes it the pride of any room and of course, your home. Use a rug to change your home and the way you will remember your home when days have passed across the landscape of time. A rug adds to the perfect home and takes the not so perfect home to the pedestal of perfection. If you own a good rug from a reputable collection, your satisfaction, so far as making your home a more livable place is concerned, is guaranteed.
So stop looking for expensive ways to achieve your goal of beautifying your home, and go buy an area rug. You’ll most definitely end up saying, “why didn’t I try this before?”
The history of Persian Carpet, a culmination of artistic magnificence, dates back to 2,500 years ago. The Iranians were among the pioneer carpet weavers of the ancient civilizations, having achieved a superlative degree of perfection through centuries of creativity and ingenuity. The skill of carpet weaving has been handed down by fathers to their sons, who built upon those skills and in turn handed them down to their offspring as a closely guarded family secret. To trace the history of Persian carpet is to follow a path of cultural growth of one of the greatest civilizations the world has ever seen.
From being simple articles of need, floor and entrance coverings to protect the nomadic tribesmen from the cold and damp, the increasing beauty of the carpets found them new owners - kings and noblemen, who looked upon them as signs of wealth, prestige and distinction.
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| Pazyryk Carpet, 5th century BCE |
Russian archaeologists Rudenko and Griaznov in 1949 discovered the oldest known “knotted” carpet in the Pazyryk valley, about 5000 feet up on the Altai Mountains in Siberia. Dating back to the fifth century BCE The Pazyryk carpet is of rare beauty and woven with great technical skill. It was found preserved in the frozen tombs of Scythian chiefs, which were 2400 to 2500 years old, it is now kept in the Hermitage Museum of Leningrad. Another rug found in the same area, dates back to the first century BCE.
When Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon in 539 BC, he was struck by its splendour, and it was probably he who introduced the art of carpet making into Persia. However, historical records show that magnificent carpets adorned the court of Cyrus the Great, who founded the Persian Empire over 2,500 years ago. It is also said that the tomb of Cyrus, who was buried at Pasargadae near Persepolis, was covered with precious carpets. Even before his time, it is very likely that Persian nomads knew about the use of Knotted carpets. Their herds of sheep and goats provided them with high quality and durable wool for this purpose.
The first documented evidence on the existence of carpets came from Chinese texts dating back to the Sassanid Dynasty (224 - 641 CE). In 628 CE, the Emperor Heraclius brought back a variety of carpets from the conquest of Ctesiphon, the Sassanian capital. The Arabs also conquered Ctesiphon in 637 CE, and among the spoils brought back were said to be many carpets, one of which was the famous garden carpet, the “Spring time of Khosro”. This carpet has passed into history as the most precious of all time. Made during the reign of Khosro I (531 - 579 CE) the carpet was 90 Feet square. The Arab historians’ description is as follows: “The border was a magnificent flower bed of blue, red, white, yellow and green stones; in the background the colour of the earth was imitated with gold; clear stones like crystals gave the illusion of water; the plants were in silk and the fruits were formed by colour stones” However, the Arabs cut this magnificent carpet into many pieces, which were then sold separately.
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| Turkish Knot |
After the period of domination by the Arab Caliphates, a Turkish tribe, named after their founder, Seljok conquered Persia. Their domination (1038 - 1194 CE) was of great importance in the history of Persian carpets. The Seljuk women were skilful carpet makers using Turkish knots. In the provinces of Azerbaijan and Hamadan where Seljuk influence was strongest and longest lasting, the Turkish knot is used to this day.
In the Turkish (or Ghiordes) knot the yarn is taken twice around two adjacent warp threads and the ends are drawn out between these two threads.
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| Sinneh Knot |
In the Persian (or Sinneh) Knot, the wool thread forms a single turn about the warp thread. One end comes out over this thread and the other over the next warp thread.
The Mongol conquest and control of Persia (1220 - 1449) was initially brutal. However, they soon came under the influence of the Persians. The palace of Tabriz, belonging to the Ilkhan leader, Ghazan Khan (1295 - 1304) had paved floors covered with precious carpets. The Monghol ruler Shah Rokh (1409 - 1446) contributed to the reconstruction of much that was destroyed by the Mongols and encouraged all the artistic activities of the region. However, the carpets in this period were decorated with simple motifs, which were mainly geometric in style.
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| Esfahan Carpet |
The Persian carpet reached its zenith during the reign of the Safavid Dynasty in the 16th century. Indeed the first concrete proofs of this craft date back to this period. Approximately 1500 examples are preserved in various museums and in private collections worldwide. During the reign of Shah Abbas (1587 - 1629), commerce and crafts prospered in Persia. Shah Abbas encouraged contacts and trade with Europe and transformed his new capital Esfahan, into one of the most glorious cities of Persia. He also created a court workshop for carpets where skilled designers and craftsmen set to work to create splendid specimens. Most of these carpets were made of silk, with gold and silver threads adding even more embellishment. Two of the best know carpets of the Safavid period; dated 1539 come from the mosque of Ardebil. Many experts believe that these carpets represent the culmination of achievement in carpet design. The larger of the two carpets in now kept in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum while the other is displayed at the Los Angeles County Museum.
The court period of the Persian carpet ended with the Afghan invasion in 1722. The Afghans destroyed Esfahan, yet their domination lasted for only a short period and in 1736, a young Chieftain from Khorasan, Nader Khan became the Shah of Persia. Through the whole course of his reign, all the country’s forces were utilised in campaigns against the Afghans, the Turks, and the Russians. During this period, and for several turbulent years after his death in 1747, no carpets of any great value were made, and solely nomads, and craftsmen in small villages continued the tradition of this craft.
In the last quarter of the 19th Century and during the reign of the Qajar rulers trade and craftsmanship regained their importance. Carpet making flourished once more with Tabriz merchants exporting carpets to Europe through Istanbul. At the end of the 19th Century some European and American companies even set up businesses in Persia and organised craft production destined for western markets.
Today, Carpet weaving is by far the most widespread handicraft in Iran. Persian carpets are renowned for their richness of colour, variety of spectacular artistic patterns and quality of design. In palaces, famous buildings, mansions and museums the world over, a Persian carpet is amongst the most treasured possession.
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| Kashan Carpet |
Major Weaving Centers:
Arak, Ardebil, Bijar, Hamadan, Esfahan, Kashan, Kerman, Mashhad, Nain, Qom, Sanandaj, Shiraz, Tabriz, Tehran, Yazd, Zanjan.
Other Centers:
Abadeh, Afshar, Ghotloo, Ahar, Amol, AnjelasAradkan, Baft, Bakhtiar, Balouch, Bam, Bandar Turkman, Behbahan, Bidgol, Borcheloo, Broujerd, Chenar, Darab, Darjezin, Farahan, Firouzabad, Garavan, Ghotlog, Golkhar, Golpayegan, Gonbad, Haris, Hosseinabad, Jourqan, Kaboudar, Ahang, Kashmar, Koliai Khamseh, Khoie, Khosrowabad, Lorestan, Mahallat, Makou, Malayer, Mahabad, Moshkabad, Moghan, Mianeh, Najafabad, Natanz, Nahavand, Neiriz, Neishabour, Qashqaie, Qazvin, qouchan, Rafsanjan, Ravar, Roudbar, Saman, Sarmilaq, Sarouk, Semnan, Senneh, Sirjan, Shahre Kord, Shahreza, Shahr Babak, Shahroud, Shahsavan, Tabas, Torbat Heidarieh, Tousirkan, Tajabad, Tafresh, Turkaman Sahra, Varamin, Vis, Yasouj, Zarand.
Source: Iran Chamber Society
