For anyone who has ever lived in a home with wood or ceramic floors you will know what I mean when I say that rugs are essentials. They are not merely optional accessories. Rugs transform the hard surface to a warm, soft, quieter environment. Area rugs mitigate the disadvantages of wood, ceramic or laminate floors allowing usage in more interior spaces. A large room in light-colored wood or ceramic can seem cold and hard. Add the right area rug and it's transformed into a cozy,warm and beautiful space.
Advantages to Using Area Rugs to Decorate Your Home
The advantages of rugs are numerous.
- Rugs allow variation.They do not commit you to a permanent arrangement.
- Area Rugs define space, providing enclosure and proportion. They can transform a large area into cozy ones that become the center of life.
- More than any other floor covering medium, area rugs allow self-expression. Due to the variety of patterns and colors, rugs can provide the binding element to an interior.
- Many area rugs are an investment, they appreciate in value. Some will last generations.
Volumes could be written on rugs and volumes have been written on the subject. My attempt here is to give some brief guides to the following four categories. Here, we are more concerned with "types" of rugs -- meaning origin and design.
- Construction
- Material
- Origin
- Design
We are going to shoot for a small leap forward in our knowledge of Woven Construction. Area rugs may be machine-woven or hand-woven to a great extent the terminology remains the same. Woven Carpets have the pile face woven along with the backing in a process literally thousands of years old. The warp and the weft are interwoven to provide a strong, long-wearing, usually expensive rug. The Warp provides the lengthwise structure of the rug; think long-ways, top to bottom or end to end. Warp yarns run the length of the rug and are interlaced with weft yarns. Weft yarns are interlaced horizontally, across the rug, side to side. Hence, we have an interwoven rug. Stop here and we have a flat weave rug. Add knots by hand or machine into the warp/weft backing and we have a common rug.
Within the woven method of construction let's define three distinct methods:
- The Axminister is not carpet made at the Axminister factory in England. It's made by inserting pile into the backing from above, cutting it so that the yarn does not run continuously along the back. Since the yarn does not run the entire length or warp, it shows only at the points where inserted. So any number of yarn colors may be inserted. The resulting Axminister cut pile pattern is usually very colorful and detailed.
- The Wilton construction method means that the pile yarn is continuously woven through the weft, leaving loops, which can be cut or uncut. The result can be smooth cuts, loops or a mix of cut piles and loops creating patterns from the texture. Because the yarns run continuously through the rug and colors show, it must be limited to avoid interfering with the pattern or look.
- Third, Flat-weave construction, as the name implies, has no pile at all. The flat-weave rug has no knotted pile cut or uncut. The warp and weft are tight and straight resulting in very plain stripe or plaid patterns.
Let us focus on natural fibres. Particularly wool, the classic fiber used to make rugs. Nothing is an adequate substitute for wool, which is soft, warm and resists compacting. In today's world, the fact that it's anti-static, flame-resistant and a renewable resource, makes it head and shoulders above all other fibers. After wool, the natural luxury materials are cotton and silk. Cotton -- easily dyed and very soft -- can be gorgeous. As easily dyed, it's also easily stained and being very soft, it's not that long-wearing. Silk, on the other hand, has strength and color but can be very expensive.
In this section on Origins, if I seem to slight the Western or European manufacturers, please forgive me. It's simply a matter of brevity. Until the establishment of sea routes to the Far East from Europe, "Oriental" rugs were extremely rare in the west. During the 16th and 17th centuries, they began to appear in larger quantities. By the mid 18th century, enterprising western weavers began to recognize the profits to be made selling rugs to a rising middle class and developed factories in Europe for the manufacture of area rugs. This cross pollinazation of ideas continues until today. Colors, designs and techniques from East and West have brought us to the current explosion in the rug marketplace.
The oldest surviving example of the rug weaving art is the Pazryk carpet which dates back to 400 B.C. Discovered in Siberia at the ripe age of 2,400 years old, its durability is amazing. There are many examples in the world today of rugs five hundred to three hundred years old. Most are in museums, but there are a number of quality rugs approximately one hundred years old which are still in service, being walked on today. Modern consumers buying a quality rug should have no qualms about getting years of satisfaction from the investment.
Tribes, clans and families probably developed their own representative, distinct patterns very early in weaving. Shortly after this, animals,plants and landscapes where introduced to the art. The addition of rugs to a household was first practical and second aesthetic. At some point, the patterns and animals (real or mythical) took on a symbolism that can add to the modern owners' appreciation of rugs as art and culture. Color also plays a critical role in all facets of the rug story. Certain colors came into wide usage within a geographic area while others were spurned. America's Southwestern " Serape" and Native American rugs feature bright colors with a dominantly red base. Today, color and pattern can be signatures of a region or factory as with Persian rugs from Isfahan and Tabriz. These feature dark red or blue backgrounds, stylized leaves or animals and patterns that are detailed and intricate. The gul -- a stylized flower motif, also known as an "elephants foot" -- is an example.
Design can best be addressed by loosely defining some terms or names we commonly hear as rug descriptions. Here are a few:
- Chinese rugs are traditionally made from wool or silk. The pile surface is sometimes sculpted for a relief effect. Colors can be light such as peach, white, yellow and shades of blue. The patterns are widely spaced with more background color showing. The following stylized motifs are common and may serve as examples: Bamboo- A symbol of longevity Canary- A symbol of family harmony Butterfly- connotes great age or time
- Persian - The finest examples of this form were woven between the 16th and 18th century. True "Persian Carpets" are made in Central Asia. They feature wool or silk and the "Persian Knot" construction. Patterns are intricate and highly detailed. The basic background colors are deep reds or blues.
- Kilm - this is a generic term for a flat-weave, tapestry-like rug originating from the Mid-East or North Africa. Bold colors and geometric patterns are the norm.
- Dhurrie the Indian (sub-continent)-version of the Kilm is darker and more subdued in color. This is reversible because of the weave and is usually made of cotton.
- Aubusson originated in 18th century France. A tapestry-like flat-weave rug. It is feminine, floral and comes in light pretty colors.
Finally, since I used the "Donkey Bags" line to catch your attention in this article's title, let me briefly explain. Traders using donkeys for transport in the Middle East had woven cloth bags that allowed the loading of merchant wares on the donkey. Sometimes, the top-side of the bag featured a motif or material that was worth saving. As the under-side wore out the top was cut free and sometimes used as a rug. Today, some of these older artifacts with more detail and of finer quality are collectors items of great value.
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