What Makes Hand-Knotted Rugs So Unique?

When shopping for rugs, there are many terms used to describe everything from the dyes used to the pile texture to the method of rug construction. One term you will notice frequently used at Holly Peters Oriental Rugs & Home is “hand-knotted”. We take great care to select high quality rugs, knotted by hand, because we believe it makes all the difference. How are hand-knotted rugs made and why are they so unique? In this blog entry, we’ll explain what sets them apart. What Is A Hand-Knotted Rug? The oldest hand-knotted rug on record is a Persian rug that dates back to the 4th century B.C. Since then, their popularity has gone through cycles, but the time and effort put into them - and the stunning designs created - has remained unchanged. A hand-knotted rug is truly a work of art for your floor. Each knot is individually tied to a foundation to create the intricate designs on the finished products. The number of knots can easily reach thousands or even millions on larger area rugs. Depending on the type of rug, it’s pattern, and the fabric used, there could be anywhere between 100 - 300 knots per square inch. Because these rugs can be very dense and intricate they also take a great deal of time to make. Some oriental rugs take a weaver months or even years to complete. How Do They Differ From Flatweave and Hand-Tufted Rugs? A hand-tufted rug may sound similar, but it is actually an entirely separate process of rug construction. Although they are considered good quality and more durable than machine made rugs, they don’t compare to the craftsmanship that goes into a hand-knotted rug. A hand-tufted rug is made by stretching a piece of canvas over a frame and punching strands of wool into it. Once it is completed the canvas is removed from the frame, given a backing to keep the tufts secure, and then completed with a bit of fringe either sewn or glued on. This process is much quicker than the time is takes to complete a hand-knotted rug, which makes them an easier alternative. However, if you’re looking for a true heirloom piece that will stand the test of time, a hand-knotted rug is your best choice. A flatweave rug, sometimes referred to as hand-woven, is another popular rug style. Flatweave rugs are constructed without the use of knots. They are created using horizontal and vertical threads (weft...

Rug Cleaning Tips To Keep It Looking New

Did you know that hand-knotted rugs can last centuries if taken care of properly? Taking the time to carefully sort through colors, patterns, and various sizes of rugs at Holly Peters Oriental Rugs & Home is only the first step in your rug journey. Once your beautiful rug is home and you’ve found the perfect spot to place it, it’s time to implement a rug care routine. Preventing Normal Wear and Tear A lot happens to your rug throughout the course of a normal day. Shoes are walking over it, pets are playing on it, sunlight travels through windows and lands on your perfectly vegetable dyed fibers. Dirt, dust, and germs can all become trapped within the hand-knotted threads. Given everything that your rug goes through, it’s important to take care of it properly to keep it looking like the work of art that it is. One really important step is to vacuum your rug. I’m sure you’re thinking that’s a pretty obvious tip, but did you know you’re supposed to vacuum both sides of it? While this won’t remove all the dirt and debris from within the pile, it certainly helps get rid of some of it between professional cleanings. The next crucial step to maintain your rug is to rotate it. This is important because, similar to a mattress, you want your rug to wear down evenly. When you leave your rug in the same place for months on end, the same areas get walked on over and over again. Rotating your rug helps reduce this issue and extend it’s life. The pile isn’t the only thing that wears down though. The sunlight that comes through your windows will fade the color of the fibers over time. Depending on the surrounding furniture and the amount of light a room gets throughout the day, you run the risk of uneven fading if the rug isn’t rotated occasionally. Our last rug care tip is to invest in a good rug pad. Not only will this prevent your rug from slipping and sliding around, but it will add a bit of cushion and ultimately keep your rug looking nicer. It’s a necessary buffer between the textile and the floor that can extend the life of your rug by 30%. Add A Professional Cleaning To Your Spring Cleaning Checklist While vacuuming, rotating, and a rug pad are great ways to keep your rug looking top notch, nothing replaces the deep clean...

How A Beautiful Rug Can Transform A Room

Many elements come together to create the interior design of a room. The first thing most people consider is color or furniture in the space, but what about the rug? Rugs are a distinct focal point in any room, and they can make or break a room’s design. Similar to deciding on art for your walls, it's important to consider what feelings and aesthetic you want to convey through the rug. Style, size, and color all play a role in the end result. It may seem daunting to try and decide given all the options out there — how do you choose the right one? A high quality rug is a work of art and something you’ll have for years to come, so we’re going to help walk you through some of the most important characteristics to consider before purchasing.   From Oriental Rugs To Modern Styles One way a rug changes the room is due to it’s style. There are many styles and themes to consider when redecorating a room. Do you want a modern aesthetic, minimalist design, or an antique look? Do you like floral designs or bold geometric shapes? A rug should be considered like a piece of art, a major design element that needs to compliment the rest of the room. Placing a modern rug in a room full of bohemian design elements won’t create the same ambiance and won’t look as thoughtfully designed as if all the pieces blend together nicely. To the right you can see examples of rooms styled with Holly Peters rugs. As you can see, each of these rooms is beautifully designed with a cohesive style, one contemporary and one antique inspired. The rugs enhance each style in the given rooms, and tie all the other design elements and pieces of furniture together. This is why style is such an important consideration when picking out rugs for your living spaces.     One Size Does Not Fit All Another important factor when choosing a rug is the size and layout of the space you’re designing. A rug that is too big for a room will overwhelm the design, and can even get in the way of the other furniture. A rug that is too small won’t make the ideal impact in your room and can also get in the way of your furniture. Take this room, for example. The rug is an ideal size for the dining room, extending past the chairs enough that someone could...

Oriental Rug Dyes – Natural & Synthetic

We have seen that one of the ‘revolutionary’ aspects of modern rug production has been the return of natural dyes. Not long ago, shoppers who were interested in new rugs (or who couldn’t or wouldn’t spend the money to buy antiques or semi-antiques) had no choice but to buy rugs with synthetic dyes. Today, though, natural dyes are an option in new rugs and, in fact, you will have to decide between natural and synthetic dyes if you buy one. The choice is important because, aside from everything else, natural-dyed rugs cost roughly 30 percent more than synthetic-dyed rugs. Let’s look closely at oriental rug dyes and how they compare. Natural Oriental Rug Dyes You will find that I use several words for natural dyes: ‘natural’, ‘vegetal’, and ‘vegetable’. I prefer ‘natural’, but use the others simply because I get tired of typing out ‘natural’ time after time. ‘Vegetal’ and ‘vegetable’ are slightly misleading because one natural dye, cochineal, is made from an insect and is not vegetal at all. Once a manufacturer of Turkish kilims told me proudly that she makes her rugs from ‘organic’ dyes. I seemed to remember from high-school chemistry that ‘organic’ refers to any material that is carbon-based, and I questioned her closely about organic dyes. She admitted that she bought the dyes from a Swiss dye maker. I’m still not clear what ‘organic’ dyes are, exactly, but something tells me that they are not mixed from roots. Rugmakers of the Middle East and Asia have used natural dyes for thousands of years. In the classic model, weaving is done most often by women and dyeing most often by men. In some important rug-weaving areas of the Middle East, dyers make reds from dried, ground madder root and (less often) from cochineal, blues from indigo, yellow from weld, green from sequential dyeing in indigo and weld, brown and camel from walnut husks, other colors from many other vegetal substances. Every area has its own indigenous materials from which dyes are made. Some dyeing takes place in two steps. First, in a process called ‘mordanting’, yarn is dipped into a hot solution of alum or iron, which prepares wool fibers to bond permanently with dye. Then the yarn is placed in vats of hot dye where it is cooked for shorter or longer periods of time and at higher or lower temperatures, depending on the dye and the shade desired. Natural...

Incorporating Oriental Rugs into your Interior Designs

Browse through fifty years of Architectural Digest, and you will find that Oriental rugs are featured in at least one home in every issue. In fact, Oriental rugs have been prized in Western interiors since the 16th century. Why? Because they make rooms look wonderful, and they do it instantly, without any trouble at all. Besides that, they’re practical. They’re easy to care for and they last for decades. Designing with Oriental rugs is surprisingly easy. Essentially it’s a matter of trying rugs at home until you find one that looks great. One needn’t be an expert to judge what looks good, and, in fact, the most important thing is to find a rug or carpet that you really love. 1. If possible, start with the Oriental rug. A hundred and fifty years ago, Edger Allen Poe wrote that “the soul of the apartment is the carpet.” He meant that the carpet is the foundation of the décor, and all else flows from it. The moment you choose carpets for a room, you establish how the room will be laid out—into one large space, for instance, or, using several smaller rugs, into discrete areas such as the space before the fireplace or the area behind the sofa. Secondly, when you choose the rug or rugs for a room, you establish the colors that will look good in it. It is far easier to buy furniture and fabric to complement the carpet than the other way around. Emmett Eiland’s Oriental Rug Company can help make it easy to choose furniture and fabric to match your carpet by providing you with a free 8 by 10 professional photograph of any carpet you buy from us. Take the photo with you for reference when you are shopping for furniture. 2. Using this website is a good way to get started. On it you can easily familiarize yourself with the styles of Oriental rugs that are available, their cost and so forth. You will be able to search by many parameters simultaneously. For instance, you may want to do a search for new rugs between 9 and 10 ft wide by 12 to 13 ft long, with natural dyes, formal designs and blue fields. Or nearly anything else. Keep in mind that not all of Emmett Eiland’s collection is online. To see everything in stock, visit the store in Berkeley. Eventually you will want to try rugs at home on an...