Before You Go Shopping for Hand Knotted and Woven Rugs

There are many different ways to make beautiful area rugs, and they come in many different shapes, sizes, and colors. They are either hand knotted or machine made, and they can be found using both natural and artificial fibers. Having shopped for and examined many of these beautiful rugs, before retiring from my interior design firm, I am aware of the confusion many people have when looking for an authentic Perisan carpet or other style Oriental rug. For the purpose of this article, let’s concentrate on what you need to know about hand knotted and woven rugs theat go under the category of “Persian.”

Almost all of the hand knotted and woven rugs are made from natural fibers; namely silk and wool. Wool is both luxurious and durable…if you take good care of a wool carpet it can last as long as you do.
Hand tufted, and hand woven area rugs are valuable, long-lasting, pricey, and, when properly maintained, can become collectibles. They can be laid on bare floors, over carpeting and on the wall. They come from many parts of the world, but mostly from the middle and far East.

Let us journey though some of these countries and see the differences. We will begin with what is perhaps the most commonly looked for of the hand-tufted rugs. Persian carpets, which are also known as Iranian carpets have been hand made for literally thousands of years, as far back as the fifth center BC. From one part of Iran (formerly called Persia) to the other, the techniques and patterns vary.

The “city rugs” include Isfahan Persian rugs, Kashan Persian rugs, and Joshaghan Persian rugs. You can identify them by the floral motifs, which may include flowers, buds, and leaves. The “tribal rugs” include Baluch, Kurds, and Heriz rugs. They most often have geometric designs. Don’t be fooled by imitations. A real Persian carpet is one that was hand-knotted in Persia. It will always have a border around the pattern. It may have more than one border, of varying thickness.

Turkoman rugs are woven in Afghanistan, Khorassan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The background color will be red to a reddish brown, geometric, with an gul (octagonal) motif of flowers. The guls are repeated in both small and large rows , and using mostly beige, white, blue and black .

Turkish rugs go as far back as the Persians do. There are four kinds of rugs, categorized by materials used. They are usually a combination of red and blue, though green is used for prayer rugs. Both silk and wool are used, as well as wool and cotton combinations.

Anatolian rugs and kilims are considered to be Turkish rugs as well. Kilims are often reversible, have no pile, and were commonly used in Turkish society. However, they were made by the nomads in Morocco, India, Pakistan, China, and Russia, as well as those in Turkey and Iran. There are some color differences. The Turkish kilims were usually in turquoise, gold and orange, while the Iranian ones are darker, with heavy greens and blues, rust and burgundy. The kilims were used most often as prayer rugs and window and door coverings. You will never find two kilims that are exactly the same.

Moroccan carpets can be flatwoven or hand knotted rugs. They are always boldly colored, but have endless pattern variations. Every tribe had its own designs, mostly geometric. Moroccan carpets don’t have the history that these other hand tufted and woven rugs have. They originate in the nineteenth century.