Anatomy of a Rug

 

The words rug and carpets seem to be used interchangeably. So what is the difference? A carpet is generally regarded as a floor covering from wall to wall, whereas a rug does not extend from wall to wall and covers a specific part of the floor. In short, rugs are smaller than carpets.

 Before delving into the technical terms in the construction of rugs, it is worth noting that the quality  of the rug is dependant on the skill of many. From the shepherd tending his flock to produce quality wool; the dyers of the wool, whose knowledge of the different organic materials to produce a desired colour and the process of dying the yarn to produce a colour that will remain adherently  steadfast  to the wool; to the designer who has conceived a pattern that is balanced with regard to spatial arrangement, flowing and aesthetically pleasing ; and last but not least the skill and dexterity borne in the fingers of the weavers who bring the design to life.

The pile of the rug is the upward facing surface of the rug that you see, where the aesthetics of the rug are visible. The pile in Kerman rugs consists of woollen or in rare cases silk fibres. The height of these fibres determines the height of the rug. In vintage or antique rugs the pile may be worn shorter due to wear of the rug. For collectors, although everybody wants a rug in perfect condition, wearing down of  the pile is acceptable, as most rugs were bought as floor coverings .Obviously the amount of wear is contingent on age. Antique rugs with little or no wear  will command a higher price than those with wear, with the exception being  rugs from the 17th,18th and early 19th century.

The pile of the rug is knotted onto a framework of horizontal and vertical “strings” called the foundation. In Kerman rugs the foundation is mostly cotton and on rare occasions, silk.The vertical aspect of the foundation is called the warp and the horizontal, the weft. I remember it, by looking at the word warp, the A has a vertical strip and in weft the E a horizontal strip  The more knots per square area on the foundation , the better the quality of the rug. This equates to a term I’m sure most of you have heard ,knots per square inch (kpsi).The warp strands can be seen as the fringes at the ends of the rug. The two other bound edges are called the selvedge, and bind the weft cords, preventing the rug from unravelling.