106 FACTS

  1. Buying a handmade rug is not an easy process, although it is exciting.
  2. A handmade rug is not a simple form of art; it is the highest form of art.
  3. Specifically, the handmade rug is not a one form of art; it is a combination of arts.
  4. The idea of a handmade rug lives within us.
  5. The choice of a handmade rug is an entirely personal matter.
  6. A fine handmade rug is what represents us and applies to our aesthetics.
  7. The handmade rug is an inspiration for the manufacturer. It can, however, be for the buyer as well.
  8. As the old Greek saying goes, there are only three people in this world that you have to trust, the fur provider, the goldsmith and the rug seller.
  9. There is no such thing as a bad handmade rug. There is a faulty market or a poor sale.
  10. Everything handmade is an investment in space and time.
  11. Handmade rugs today are not as expensive in terms of production value and timelessness.
  12. During the lifetime of a household, the purchase of a rug is usually made once. Therefore, because the purchase of a handmade rug is not a typical case, we must pay attention to the right information, but also to the accumulation and comparison of data we gathered.
  13. The value of the handmade rug includes at least 11 factors: origin, design, colours, performance, knots, replacement, dimension, age, the authenticity of construction and marketability.
  1. The names and qualities of the rugs express specific designations.
  2. Every production family has the same characteristics and DNA and sustaining them over the years consolidates the designation of origin.
  3. Handmade rugs must be named with their real origin.
  4. Using toponyms, helps us emphasize the qualities of a rug.
  5. The so-called quality rugs are those that take their name from the city of their manufacture, e.g. Nain from Nain in Persia.
  6. Bukhara is a city in Uzbekistan (Turkic tribe) in the former Soviet Union.
  7. Tabriz is in northern Iran (Taurida, Azeri tribe).
  8. Tibet is called the loop that gets turned by a rod during weaving. This loop is then cut and creates the pile of the rug.
  9. In nomad rugs, we overlook more easily any lapses in the construction.
  10. The motifs of the designs express topographic features, have a symbolic character and convey bearings and cultures.
  11. Naming the qualities of a copied rug, it is also necessary to state the place and country of manufacture correctly.
  12. The faulty certification is the worst enemy of a handmade rug.
  1. There are horizontal and vertical looms.
  2. Horizontal looms are more common in nomadic manufactures, while vertical looms are found mainly in organized rug weaving manufactures.
  3. All rugs are unique. The same design pattern woven by two different weavers will have the individual graphic character of each one separately.
  4. In nomadic manufactures, the design could be an inspiration that’s in the weaver’s mind.
  5. In organized rug weaving manufactures the weaver reads the pattern as if a musician was reading notes on a stave.
  6. Single/double/triple pendants, repetitive asymmetries, illustrations and portraits, but also themes and images can be found in every design.
  7. First, the drawings are usually printed on millimetre paper; a paper with squares, and for each square in the paper, there’s a knot.
  8. Handmade rugs are worked with a splendid technique.
  9. Songs often accompanied the weaving work of the craftsmen.
  10. Women weavers were paid less than men.
  11. On the backside of the rug, among other things, the weaver’s character is reflected, as well as his/her current mood during that day.
  12. On the backside of the rug, we can see the likely mistakes or imperfections of the weaving process.
  13. On the back, we measure the knots. (a square centimetre x 10000 gives us a factor for the number of knots per square meter. Eg 4×6 = 24 x 10000 = 240000 m2).
  14. It takes about a month to weave a square meter of carpet (i.e. four months for 4 square meters of living room carpet 170×240, working 8 hours only for weaving).
  15. Once the carpet is finished from the weave and comes down from the loom, the pattern is indistinguishable, and the texture is very thick.
  16. Finishing, clipping and washing the rug are the phases that will or will not highlight the final form of the rug.
  17. Let the character of the handmade creation shine with the beautiful mistakes or even imperfections that highlight the uniqueness of your rug.
  18. Only 8 in 100,000 people know the art of making a rug: 3 of them are Persians and Turkish people, and the rest are Indians, Chinese and others.
  19. Quality usually indicates the style of development.
  20. Signed rugs give a unique element, e.g. manufacturer ID, but they aren’t necessarily more expensive.
  21. Without the water element, rug weaving cannot be developed. The hardness of the water plays a significant role in the image and texture of the carpet.
  1. Scientific Term: the handmade rug is the knotted rug.
  2. The knot during weaving is given a slope. In the end, the overall identical inclination of the knots creates the direction (right side and reversed or light side and dark). The set of knots makes the pile.
  3. Double knots are more difficult to weave, so these rugs have a higher cost.
  4. The asymmetric / Persian knot is made around the warp and is open on the right and left side.
  5. The symmetrical knot has divided ends between two warps.
  6. The nomad has a symmetrical and an asymmetric knot.
  7. Sparta with 70000-80000 knots per square meter and Sivas with 100000-120000 knots per square meter, are the most famous Greek characteristics with an asymmetric double knot.
  8. The denser the knots, the more detail is given to the design.
  9. The denser the knots, the more special materials and yarns you should be using. Also, you have to be more experienced in rug weaving.
  10. Densed knotted rugs look like creations of small children mad of with their tiny little hands, but they are actually made with special weaving tools.
  11. Rugs that consist of 6000 to 10000 knots – depending on the weaver’s experience and the difficulty of construction – can be woven per day.
  12. The weft is inserted between one or two complete (horizontal) rows of knots, depending on the composition.
  1. Wool is flame retardant. It can’t melt or create a flame.
  2. Wool can be stretched up to 30% without breaking.
  3. Wool can absorb up to 1/3 of its weight in moisture.
  4. Wool has resilient flexibility.
  5. Wool is hydrophilic, flexible, friendly, ecological, durable.
  6. Cotton wool is the most common type.
  7. Wool is a living organism: it needs air, sun, water (as much as the composition of each carpet allows it).
  8. The sheep’s breed that will supply the wool, but also each phase of production (dyeing, spinning, weaving, trimming, washing, etc.) contributes decisively to the final remembrance of the rug.
  9. Cotton is mainly used for the carpet warp.
  10. Cotton is hydrophilic and durable and is offered as a warped base.
  11. Silk is 1.5 times more durable than iron of the same diameter.
  12. Other materials found in handmade rugs are linen and jute for warp, goat hair that is thick but more durable, camel hair for that beautiful honeyish colour, and lastly gold and silver threads to fill the design.
  1. The scientific definition of colour is the visual impression created in the eye by the dispersed light reflected around us in various objects.
  2. Colour plays a vital role in our lives, creates artistic intervention in space and affects our emotional experience.
  3. The handmade carpet gives colour to space and complements our aesthetics.
  4. The sources of paint colours differ depending on several geographical places.
  5. Hair dye colours can be natural or synthetic.
  6. Plant colours are given by nature.
  7. Plant colours are not always colourfast, but they offer better balance in their combinations.
  8. The rug and its plant colours can mature with us.
  9. Plant colours require an extra stabilization process that is not always very flourishing but offers better balance in their combinations.
  10. The indigo plant gives us a blue colour.
  11. We get a brown-yellow colour from walnut peels and acorns.
  12. We get a red colour from madder’s roots.
  13. Handmade rugs don’t have to match in colour with the rest of the space, nor with each other.
  14. Let the carpet contrast your space. You set the degree.
  1. Rugs in a space can be smaller in size, but more in number.
  2. The furniture determines the dimensions of the rug, in which we can step on.
  3. We don’t need to cover much of the rug’s design under the sofas.
  4. By choosing smaller rug dimensions, we can increase the quality, with denser and more unique creations.
  5. There is no “must” in combining a handmade rug with your furniture. It stands alone as a work of art.
  1. Rugs “breathe” all the harmful things like we humans do (exhaust fumes, fireplace or cigarettes smoke).
  2. We must pay close attention to the sun, humidity and moth in order to sustain our rug’s condition.
  3. Handmade rugs need maintenance before storage, just like woollen clothes.
  4. Handmade rugs should be given to specialists at least every two years for inspection and maintenance.
  5. All rugs can be cleaned. The way of cleaning differentiates.
  6. Every stain needs a different treatment. Even time plays a significant role in that.
  7. Chronic maintenance in traditional ways — such as oil and vinegar — can damage the rug.
  8. Stains can only be cleaned with a damp clean cloth and a little dose of soap, without soaking the rug.
  9. Washing the rug at home carries some serious risks. The most important of all is that the colour can fade if the rug’s drainage isn’t the conventional one.
  1. The people of Anatolia elevated the rug weaving production with their arrival in Greece in 1922.
  2. Rug weaving in the East but also in Greece was applied in the form of cottage industry offering work and income to the family, under the supervision of experienced rug weavers.
  3. The oldest rug in history was located in the Altai Mountains, in the valley of Pazyryk in Scythian tombs in southern Mongolia.
  4. Pazyryk is the oldest rug ever found by the Russian scientist Rudenko in 1947.
  5. The pazyryk rug’s dimension is 182 × 200 knots, ie 380000 knots per square – too many for the time and is now located in the Leningrad Museum.
  6. The creation of pazyryk is estimated in the 5th century BC.
  7. Agamemnon (according to Aeschylus) as soon as he saw Clytemnestra, he unfolded a handmade rug, as a unique gift for her.
  8. Flying rug: it was a means of burial and communication with the ancient gods. When they exhumed the dead, they always found that the rug and the dead were missing, which they used to say that both “flew” into heaven.