About
Services
Press
Contact

HOW RUGS ARE MADE


"The hands that start the rug, must finish the rug.”


There is nothing like a hand-woven rug. It gives up the energy invested in it by the people who make it and takes on their soul and their essence.

When people speak of Persian & Classic rugs and carpets, they generally mean a hand-knotted pile rug. However, the term “Persian Rug” also encompasses non-pile, or flat woven rugs such as the Kilims and Soumaks. A hand-woven Classic rug can take anywhere from two months to several years to complete.

Rug-making techniques differ from region to region, but all follow a similar method. All are woven on looms, traditionally made of timber, although now sometimes constructed of steel.

 
 

 
Warp threads are wound lengthways around a loom. The warp provides the structural base of the carpet and weavers must keep an even tension on the thread in order to maintain the integrity of the rug shape.
   
After the warp is threaded onto the loom, the real artistry of the rug begins. Rows of knots are tied around the warp threads in pairs, either using a Turkish (Ghiordes) or Persian (Sinneh) knot.
 
A Ghiordes knot lends itself to a geometric design, (common in tribal rugs) while a Sinneh knot allows for a more intricate design. The weavers of City Rugs tend to use a Sinneh knot, which allows for a greater number of knots per square metre, enabling a more intricate design.

This is followed by the insertion of one or more weft threads. The weft threads are then beaten into position with a range comb. The pile is trimmed according to the weaver’s choice and density of weave. Then the knotting begins again, row by row, until the carpet is complete .

When you visit our showroom, you will see why hand weaving creates such vibrant, unique rugs. Unlike machine-woven carpets, where the pile stands at 90 degrees, the pile of a hand-woven rug stands at 45 degrees. Walk along a rug, looking at it carefully as you do. At one end, you look over the pile. At the other, you look through it. Watch the way the colour is light and reflective at one end and deep at the other, as you look into the weave. It’s like the soul of a person, both luminous and bottomless at the same time.
 

 
A Kilim is a different style of weaving once again. The most basic of Kilims are woven by doing a basket style weave, where the weft threads are run in front of and behind the warp alternatively to produce the pile of the rug which sits flat on the warp threads as seen below.

Due to the simplicity of the weaving of Kilims they are generally much faster to weave than a knotted carpet and hence attract a lower price.
     
© Cadrys 2010. All rights reserved.