Who makes our rugs and carpets? |
All of our rugs and carpets are entirely handmade.
These rugs represent the highest art form of ancient cultures from around the world.
The people who wove them were following a tradition that is over 5000 years old.
Tribal rugs are the products of a true cottage industry. The pile of these carpets is
made of strong, fine wool that has been shorn from the
local sheep. Dyes are made from local vegetation. Synthetic dyes from the West are
not used because it was found that they fade much more rapidly than vegetable dyes.
There can never be an exact duplicate of these rugs anywhere.
What is the difference between a carpet and a rug?
Size. Any piece that is forty square feet or less is described in the trade as a "rug".
Larger pieces are called "carpets". The terms are used interchangeably in the U.S., but
not in Great Britain.
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Tribal carpets are made by nomadic peoples who often live in
tents and move from place to place. They typically use a horizontal loom, which is staked
to the ground. The loom may be pulled up when they break camp and move to a new location,
then staked down again. A family may move ten or twenty times before the rug is completed.
Spinning the yarn and weaving the rug is typically done by women. The men often help by
building the looms, by gathering
or purchasing the dyes, dying the wool, and later selling the carpet at market. These woman
are weaving a carpet that is unusually large for a tent project. Most tribal pieces are
smaller than 5' x 8' (forty square feet). |
| If the tribe lives in a village and is no longer nomadic, the vertical loom is more common.
These looms can be larger since they are rarely moved, and the carpets they produce can
be quite a bit larger than the nomadic tribal rugs. Semi-nomadic tribes may live in a village for
part of the year, but eventually fold up their looms and move on. |
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| Oriental or "Persian" carpets come from many countries besides Persia (which is the old
name for Iran). They are made in Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Greece, Bulgaria,
Romania, Russia, Mongolia, and Tibet. No matter where they are made, genuine handwoven carpets declare the
history, artistry, and skill of their creators. Eventually, 95% of these rugs end up in London,
England, which is the clearing house for grading, sorting, and pricing the pieces. Nearly all
of these rugs are then exported to the rest of the world. Many dealers side-step this chain of distribution
by traveling to Istanbul or other Middle Eastern cities and buying the carpets directly. This allows
them to sell them for a much lower price to their customers. |
| At Cincinnati Oriental Carpets and Tribal Rugs, our
main interest is in the extraordinary handwoven goods from the Iranian and Turkoman rug areas. This includes
Turkey, Persia, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and parts of Tibet. Many nomadic tribes wander across these
borders with no regard for political boundaries and produce some of the finest goods ever seen. We only choose carpets
that have color and pattern schemes that go well with most modern and antique furniture. You will discover that they
work well over wall-to-wall carpeting as well as on the traditional hardwood floors. For some great decorating ideas, see the
Decorating Tips page. |
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