Being Carpet Connoisseurs we are obsessed and love to appreciate all the small things that make a Rug special. Today we want to focus on the differences between a hand tufted, hand knotted carpet and a machine made carpet. While looking for a Rug make sure you inspect the carpet, a fairly good indication that it is hand tufted is by looking carefully at one end of the carpet.
As you can from this picture here the black wool piles actually punched through a canvas backing which tells us this is hand tufted.
A fringe has also been added to this rug post production which may also be an additional indicator of being tufted.
Perhaps the best way to identify these types of rugs is by looking at the reverse side which will often have a solid color canvas.
One of the more commonly accepted definitions of an oriental rug is as follows :
“hand made of natural fibers with a pile knotted and woven on a warp and weft incorporating individual character and design”
Viewing the reverse side in the corner of this oriental carpet note the salvages are the edging which actually penetrates through the structure, also take note of the fringe it’s not unusual for there to be site discrepancies or inconsistencies knotting which hint to the handmade nature.
Although the machine made carpet seen here does have a wool pile it’s actually very much different from an oriental carpet.
Courtesy : Wikipedia
When shopping for rugs and carpets don’t let the talk fool you just because the fibres are natural or the item is advertised as having a Persian or oriental design does not necessarily qualify it as a true hand knotted piece.
Looking at the reverse side of this carpet a fairly good indicator this item being machine made is by taking a closer look at the selvedge azure edging.
Courtesy: Amazon
Looking at the reverse side of this carpet a fairly good indicator this item being machine made is by taking a closer look at the selvedge azure edging.
Unlike a hand-knotted rug, the fiber used to make the Selfridges does not penetrate but rather is tacked on with precise machine stitches.
Looking at the white weft seen here and a machine made carpet 99% of the time this fiber will be synthetic thanks.
While Buying a Carpet appreciating these differences can make all the difference in helping you get a good value on your rug by the time you are ready for it!
At Karpets By RKS we have a passion for making Carpets over three generations and the passion for making the ultimate Rug for your Home.
