The tradition of woven floor coverings has existed for centuries. The oldest surviving carpet, the well documented Pazyryk carpet is more than two thousand years old, it is a miracle that it is still in a reputable state. The weave of the carpet is of such a high quality it is obvious that carpet weaving at that time was a well engineered and also a highly efficient art form. It was discovered in a Scythian tomb in southern Siberia in the 1940s. It has been dated between the fourth and fifth centuries BC.

Yuruk rugs are mainly geometric in design. A popular design was a hexagonal motif surrounded by a key design known as the ‘running dog’ motif. The area within the hexagon would be decorated with a design of diamonds of various sizes, within each other, each of a varying colour. Outside the hexagon at each corner would be an octagon within which would be an eight-pointed star. Borders are wide and usually composed of four guards containing geometric leaf motifs. Colours are vivid but pleasingly combined.

So I was flicking through news articles last week (which happened to be pretty much all pointless celebrity gossip) when I saw this one about Hugh Grant- apparently he smuggled rugs from Turkey.

The washed up Four Weddings and a Funeral star was returning from a holiday in Turkey and stupidly tried to  sneak 4 oriental rugs through customs. To be far I wouldn’t of known to have declared the rugs so it could of been an honest mistake. But Grant knew otherwise

But they were quizzed for being suspicious. The officer who found the rugs promptly and probably happily arrested Grant for trying to dupe the duty on the imported rugs.

Grant once said to a glossy magazine- “I’ve been arrested… for smuggling. I smuggled. It was a very long time ago. I was coming back from Turkey with a girlfriend with a few rugs. We were such idiots (and still are). We came through an airport in the middle of the night and thought no one would check. So we went through ‘nothing to declare’, but we were stopped.”

The airport officials pulled over the couple and asked, ‘We noticed you have returned from Turkey?’ The couple replied with a sheepish “yes”.

They were then asked to open a “long parcel”. Unfortuneately the rug shaped parcel did indeed contained a beautiful turkish rug. Grant was then asked to proceed in opening the rest of his luggage and out popped 4 large rugs. What a fool.

Next time Hugh, go through and declare your rugs, or you might have to pay another hefty fine for smuggling.

A peculiar custom in America is to include Oriental carpets in the sales of Colonial furniture, ceramics and silverware. Such carpets are also displayed over tables and on floors in the Early American period,  in places such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Does this mean that Oriental carpets and American antiques go together like bread and cheese?

”Oriental carpets have been an integral part of the material culture of the West for 600 years,” said Walter B. Denny, an art historian at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Turkish carpets ”have been an essential part of the American interior since the 19th century,” he also said. As an authority on Islamic and Turkish art, he was the guest curator of ”The Classical Tradition in Anatolian Carpets,” an exhibition at the Textile Museum in Washington from Sept. 13 through Feb. 16 in 2002.

The show featured 50 colorful Turkish carpets, prayer rugs and cushion covers from the 14th through to the 19th century. Many accumulated  by George Hewitt Myers, an heir to the Bristol-Myers Squibb company fortune who founded the museum in 1925. The London publisher Scala has brought out an illustrated catalog with text by Denny, who explored the classical design sources that inspired Anatolian carpet weavers.

”By classical, I mean carpet designs that have never gone out of style and that have continued to appear in Anatolian rugs over the centuries, sometimes in their original forms and sometimes in designs that have gradually mutated,” Mr. Denny said.

There were carpet-weavers in ancient Egypt, Persia, Syria and the Caucasus, but the  earliest carpet to survive was from Anatolia, the Asiatic portion of modern Turkey. In 1071 Turkic tribes invaded Anatolia from Central Asia, the women of these tribes had a tradition of weaving distinct woolen nomadic carpets. These knotted pile carpets were immensely varied in technique, design, symbolism and function, and they attracted attention. When Marco Polo was in Anatolia in 1271, for example, he said the best carpets in the world were woven there. Early travelers from France also praised them. Soon they were being exported.

A boucherouite, (pronounced boo-shay-REET) a word derived from a Moroccan-Arabic is a phrase meaning torn and reused clothing is a rug made in Morocco. The carpets it describes, made by women for more domestic use, is a variation of the humble rag rug, without the humility. With their zany patterns and jolting colors, these household items look dolled up and ready to party; naturally more suitable for framing than for trampling underfoot, one would think?

The style developed fairly recently, a result of socio-economic changes. Since the middle of the 20th century nomadic life in Morocco has been seriously on the decline since the production of wool from sheepherding has much been reduced. During the same period, though, Berber culture has come to the attention of the global market, and Berber carpets have been ever more popular.

Faced with a call for increased output and a scarcity of natural materials, Berber weavers have had to rethink parts of their craft. This has meant, among other things, supplementing wool with recycled fabrics and cheap synthetic fibers like nylon and Lurex, and various plastics.

An innovative rug that’s been described as the world’s first sleeping bag has been re-made and is going on display at the Newtown Textile Museum. The Euklisia rug (patented by Newtown entrepreneur Pryce Jones in 1876) was exported to many places around world in the late 19th century. Documents show he sold 60,000 the rugs to the Russian army, the British army also bought them to use in the world wars. There are records of civilian uses too - among missionaries in Africa and pioneers in the Australian outback. No examples of the rug appear to have survived - but researchers on a BBC Wales TV series, Wales and the History of the World - recreated one using the original patent material. Presenter Eddie Butler said: “It was great to see this Welsh fist brought back to life.” Pryce Jones, who was apprenticed to a draper at the age of 12, became a business powerhouse in mid-Wales after publishing the world’s first mail order catalogues. He finally had hundreds of thousands of customers around Europe, including many royals. Newtown Textile Museum is open from May to September 2010. - BBC news online

Looking for an eco friendly rug with natural charm that will blend with either casual of formal room settings? Then a sisal rug may be the answer.

Sisal is a fibre extracted from the leaves of the Agave plant, originally native to Central America and now cultivated extensively in Brazil, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.  The Agave plant is very robust, preferring an arid climate; no artificial fertilisers and little or no chemical herbicides are needed for its cultivation. Sisal fibres, which are extremely strong, are shiny and vary in colour from white/cream to pale yellow in their natural state although they can be easily dyed and are generally colourfast.

Spun into a yarn, sisal has been used in rugmaking for hundreds of years, particularly in a tight weave known as boucle, although flat weave and rib patterns are also popular. The result is a rug that oozes natural charm, is durable, anti-static, non-toxic and easy to clean. A regular vacuuming will prevent embedded dirt damaging the fibres, liquid spills should be blotted with a dry cloth, taking care not to rub liquid into the fibre, stains should be blotted with a rag dipped in a solution of soap and water, or vinegar and water, and then blotted dry. Dry cleaning powder is also available for sisal rugs as excessive moisture can have deleterious effects on the fibres. For this reason, sisal rugs are not suitable for bathrooms or other excessively moist or humid environments.

A Tush kyiz is large, elaborately embroidered wall hanging, which could also be used as a floor covering, traditionally made in Kyrgyzstan andKazakhstan by elder women to commemorate the marriage of an offspring.

Colors and designs are chosen to symbolize Kyrgyz traditions and rural life. Flowers, plants, animals, stylized horns, national designs and emblems of Kyrgyz life are often found in these ornate and colorful embroideries. Designs are sometimes dated and signed by the artist upon completion of the work, which may take years to finish. The tush kyiz is hung in the yurt over the marriage bed of the couple, and symbolize their pride in their Kyrgyz tradition.

Carpets and Rugs can be made from many singlular or blended natural and synthetic fibres. Fibres are chosen for durability, appearance, ease of manufacture, and cost. In terms of scale of production, the dominant yarn constructions are polyamides (nylons) and polypropylene with an estimated 90% of the commercial market.

Nylon

Nylon is the most common material for construction of carpets. Both nylon 6 and nylon 66 are used. Nylon can be dyed topically or dyed in a molten state (solution dying). Nylon can be printed easily and has excellent wear characteristics. In carpets Nylon tends to stain easily because it possesses dye sites on the fibre. These dye sites need to be filled in order to give Nylon any type of stain resistance. As nylon is petroleum-based it varies in price with the price of oil.

Polypropylene

Polypropylene is used to produce carpet yarns because it is inexpensive. It is difficult to dye and does not wear as well as wool or nylon. Large looped Berber carpets made from this fibre are usually only suited for light domestic use and tend to mat down quickly. Berber carpets with smaller loops tend to be more resilient and retain their new appearance longer than large looped Berber styles. Commercial grade level-loop carpets have very small loops, and commercial grade cut-pile styles are well constructed. When made with polypropylene (also called Olefin) these styles wear very well, clean easily and are suitable for areas with heavy foot traffic such as offices.

Wool and Wool-blends

Wool has excellent durability, can be dyed easily and is fairly abundant. When blended with synthetic fibres such as nylon the durability of wool is increased. Blended wool yarns are extensively used in production of modern carpets, with the most common blend being 80% wool to 20% synthetic fibre, giving rise to the term “80/20″. Wool is relatively expensive and consequently a small portion of the carpet market and a large percentage of the rug market.

Polyester

The polyester known as “PET” (polyethylene terephthalate) is used in carpet manufacturing in both spun and filament constructions. After the price of raw materials for many types of carpet rose in the early 2000s, polyester became more competitive. Polyester has good physical properties and is inherently stain-resistant because it is hydrophobic, and, unlike nylon, does not have dye sites. Color is infused in a molten state (solution dyeing). Polyester has the disadvantage that it tends to crush or mat down easily. It is typically used in mid- to low-priced carpeting.

Another polyester, “PTT” (Polytrimethylene terephthalate) , also called Sorona or 3GT (Dupont)or Corterra (Shell), is a variant of PET. Lurgi Zimmer PTT was first patented in 1941, but it was not produced until the 1990s, when Shell Chemicals developed the low-cost method of producing high-quality 1,3 propanediol (PDO), the starting raw material for PTT Corterra Polymers. PTT is similar to polyester, but its molecules have a “kink”, similar to a spring, that makes the fibre more crush resistant, resilient, and easy to clean. PTT also does not have dye sites, and is inherently stain resistant because color is infused in a molten state. Carpets made with PTT dry quickly and are resistant to mold.

The binding in woven carpets and rugs is usually cotton and the weft is jute or hessian .

Azerbaijani rugs are a product of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has been known as a place with a large variety of rug crafts. The archeological dig on the territory of Azerbaijan testifies to them having a well developed agriculture. These include, live stock raising, metal working, pottery and ceramics, and last but not least carpet-weaving that dates as far back as the 2nd millennium BC.

The most ancient carpet ever discovered was the famous Pazyryk carpet of the VI-V century BC which was found during the excavations in the Altai Mountains. The Gultapin excavations discovered carpet weaving tools which date back to the IV-III millennium BC. For many centuries during the historical existence of our nation both settled and nomadic ways of life were of importance. A carpet per se is democratic, however its real folk character is about something else. A carpet was meant to unite people, to cultivate the sense of collectivism, mutual aid, and friendly cohesion. An Azerbaijani carpet, which embodies numerous and various functions, is in fact something more that just a combination of these purposes. An Azerbaijani carpet is not only one of the most important elements in the national way of life, not only a variety of the arts and crafts, but also a key link to the ethical and moral principles and customs of the people’s existence.

The carpet making was born in rural huts and with time ranked among the most essential arts. It was highly valued by the heads of states, and the gifted weavers were glorified by the greatest poets. The carpet history is assumed to be divided into the following four main periods:

• I period - the early stage of the carpet development. The carpet ware is very simple, without any motifs and patterns. The first palas and djedjims appear.
• II period - introduction of the kilim weaving practice by the intricate threading technique.
• III period - weaving of shadda, verni, sumakh, zili. The period of simple and complex whipping techniques.
• IV period - introduction of the knotted pile weaving. Both from the technical and artistic standpoints this stage can be considered the acme of the carpet making.

Rug hooking is both an art and a craft where rugs are made by pulling loops of yarn or fabric through a stiff woven base such as burlap, linen, or rug warp. The loops are pulled through the backing by using a crochet-type hook mounted in a handle (usually wood) for leverage. In contrast latch-hooking uses a hinged hook to form a knotted pile from short, pre-cut pieces of yarn.

Designs for the rugs are often commercially produced and can be as complex as flowers or animals to as simple as geometrics. Rug-hooking has been popular in North America for at least the past 200 years.

The author William Winthrop Kent believed that the earliest forebears of hooked rugs were the floor mats made in Yorkshire, England during the early part of the 19th century. Workers in weaving mills were allowed to collect thrums, pieces of yarn that ran 9 inches (23 cm) long. These by-products were useless to the mill, and the weavers took them home and pulled the thrums through a backing. The origins of the word thrum are ancient, as Mr. Kent pointed out a reference in Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor. However in the publication “Rag Rug Making” by Jenni Stuart-Anderson, she states that the most recent research indicates “…the technique of hooking woolen loops through a base fabric was used by the Vikings, whose families probably brought it to Scotland.” To add to this there are sound examples at the Folk Museum in Guernsey, Channel Islands that early rag rugs made in the same manner where produced here off the coast of France as well.