A Carpet Dealer Tells You How to Choose a Quality Rug
In middle east culture, a rug is more than just a decoration, but it represents the social status of the family and cultural ambience.
It can’t be better to get some tips from a carpet dealer among middle east region, Ali Jassim AlRomaithy.
Ali, from Iraq, has done carpet business in middle east and UK for more than 30 years.
Ali provides several tips and indicators of choosing the rugs.
Hand- knotted / Machine-made
Some rugs are hand-knotted while some are machine-made. It is hard to identify the quality of the machine-made ones, because you need to know the machine itself, the type of thread used, and the chemicals in the thread itself, even the quality of the wool used in it. Machine-made rugs generally cost less than a third of the price of hand-knotted versions.
On the other hand, handmade (the most famous one is the persian rug) goes into two types, the tribal rug, and city rug.
The Tribal rug, like the Qashqai tribe rugs, they remember they create the design out of their memory along as they weave it.
As for the city designs, like Kashan, Isfahan and Tabriz, they have specialized rug designers and the weavers follow that design to the smallest detail.
How to differentiate a good quality rug
Check the back of the rug. Usually the back of the rug will be very similar to it’s face. The more clear, the higher quality.
The number of knots is very important too. First-class rugs have more knots and details in it, because more details means you need to change the thread and colors more often.
Price
The price is not the biggest indication when choosing a rug. It depends on the production and the looks of it. If a rug has more flowers, animals and colors, the price would be higher. Also the price varies from types of the materials(the wool, silk) to the ingredients used(the dye). For instance, Karakul wool is the best, as it gives the rug a softer touch and more details.
Old rugs are priced on their rarity, as for example there is one Persian rug being sold for 4.5 million dollars few years ago.
