RUGS & CARPETS
Rugs and carpets add beauty, comfort and warmth to a room, and they help absorb sound. Most are manufactured with machines, but some are handwoven according to tradition.
In a word
The words “rug” and “carpet” are often used interchangeably. Both are floor coverings, but rugs are smaller than carpets and, in general, are no longer than 6.5 feet (2 m).
The word rug is thought to be of Scandinavian origin. It came into use in the mid-16th century to describe a type of coarse woolen cloth. Rugs usually have artistic designs, and some are so beautiful that they are hung as wall decor.
The word carpet is from the Latin word carpere, which means “to pluck.” This is because the earliest carpets were made from unraveled or “plucked” fabrics. Carpets are larger than rugs, and in many cases are glued or tacked to the floor, covering a room from wall to wall. Carpets tend to use pile texture more than colors to create patterns. In the 1940s, wool carpets began to be replaced by modern fibers that were more stain-resistant, such as nylon, olefin and polyester.
Looking back
Rugs have been around since people have been laying furs on cave floors. Ancient people wove reeds and grasses to make rugs. Nomadic tribes wove rugs out of camel, sheep, and goat hair more than 5,000 years ago. Archaeologists have found the remains of rugs in Egyptian and Mesopotamian tombs dating back more than 4,000 years. Handmade Persan rugs have traditionally been the most valuable. The carpet industry changed in a big way in 1791 when a carpet mill was set up by William Sprague in Philadelphia. The power loom was invented in the mid-1800s. Manufactured carpets continue to provide less-expensive floor coverings, but handmade rugs are still highly valued.
The basics
A rug or carpet consists of two parts: The skeleton (back) of the rug is formed by vertical and horizontal threads called warp and weft. The raised layer is called the pile of the rug, which is made by knotting threads.
Oriental rugs
Oriental rugs are hand-knotted in Asian countries, such as China, India, Iran and Turkey. These rugs have been prized for centuries for their beauty and the skill needed to weave them. Wool and silk are the most common fibers used to make Oriental rugs. There are two main kinds of knot used to make these rugs: the asymmetrical Persian knot and the symmetrical Turkish knot.
Prayer rugs
Prayer rugs incorporate a pointed or arch-shaped pattern. When Muslims pray, they place the rug with the pointed design facing Mecca, their holiest city. The rug also serves as a way to ensure the cleanliness of a prayer space and helps to create an isolated area for prayer. Prayer rugs are generally large enough for an adult to fit comfortably when kneeling or prostrating. Modern, commercially produced rugs are often made of silk or cotton and may be woven or embroidered.
The Pazyryk carpet is the world’s oldest rug. It was found in the Altai Mountains of Siberia and dates to between the 3rd and 5th centuries B.C. The original is very delicate and in tatters, but this illustration shows how the design would have looked when new. The original rug is housed at the St. Petersburg Hermitage Museum in Russia, and the Carpet Museum of Iran has a replica on display.
Industrialization
In 1839, an American named Erastus
Bigelow invented a power loom for weaving carpets. Bigelow’s loom doubled carpet production in its first year and tripled it by 1850.
Did you know?
Rugs and small carpeted areas may be healthier than hardsurface flooring as they trap allergens instead of allowing them to sit on the surface. The state of Georgia leads the U.S. in production of rugs and carpets, producing more than 70% of the nation’s floor coverings.
Carpetbagger is a derogatory term for Northerners who tried to take advantage of the South’s Civil War defeat. Some beetle larvae, or woolly
bears, have special chemicals in their stomachs that convert wool into sugar. These beetle grubs eat wool carpets.
Melville Bissell invented the first vacuum cleaner, called a “carpet sweeper,” in 1860.
Club soda can clean fresh stains on carpet. Pour some on the spot, let it soak for a few seconds, and then sponge it. The borders of some Oriental rugs were once thought to protect those sitting inside the magical area.
Red carpets have traditionally marked the ceremonial and formal routes of leaders and politicians. The first reference to a “red carpet” is by
Aeschylus in 458 B.C., about a carpet used by Agamemnon. The most ever paid for a carpet was the Persian 17th-century
Clark Sickle-leaf Carpet, sold in 2013 for $33.7 million. The quality of a Persian rug is determined by how many knots it has in a 1-inch-by-1-inch square.