When I recently decided to rebrand and redo my website, one of my main goals was to share my knowledge and offer more transparency to this often confusing industry.

 

I want you to feel informed and empowered in your buying and decision making process.

 

To help you find your perfect vintage rug, lets start with the basics.

This fundamental knowledge will help guide you and ensure that you are investing in tried and true quality pieces that you will treasure for years to come. And hopefully it helps you understand why a hand-made rug is worth the investment over a machine made rug; that these vintage pieces are true art and made to be durable and last.

 

How is the rug made?

So much goes into making a hand-knotted rug from the building of the loom, growing of cotton, raising and sheering of sheep, making of the natural dyes and the art of designing. But for the purpose of this, we will focus on the actual weaving of the rug.

These hand-made pieces of art are knotted on a loom, with the width of the loom determining the width of the rug. To start, vertical threads are attached tightly across the width of the loom; these are referred to at the warp or the foundation of the rug. They also are what we see at the end of each rug, known as the fringe.

Once the warp is properly set up on the loom, the weaver hand-knots threads around the warp strings; these are called knots or piles. Between each row of knotted pile, the weaver threads 1-2 rows of thread across the rug, called the weft, which helps to keep the construction tight and in tact.

It's a beautiful process. A labor of love. These rugs can take months to complete and can contain hundreds of thousands of individual knots.

 

Understanding the pile

In order to tie the wool knots around the weft, weavers use long pieces of wool. The pile of the rug is essentially the height of the weft. Once the rug is complete, the height of the pile could be quite high.

Depending on the style of the rug, the pile is trimmed to different lengths. High pile, while softer to the touch can more easily gather debris and are at more risk for wear. Lower pile rugs are less soft to the touch but experience less wear and their designs are more distinct.

Most of the rugs sourced by Latham Vintage Rugs fall into the shaved to medium pile. Below are some of the common variations and the types of rugs that fall into each.

High Pile Rugs - Moroccan, Turkish Tuli

Medium Pile Rugs - Sarouks, Heriz, Caucasian and Serab

Low Pile Rugs - Mahals, Turkish Oushak, Malayer, Doroksh

Shaved Pile Rugs - Tabriz, Turkish Sivas, Turkish Burdur

No Pile Rugs, or flatweave - Kilims

 

What Does KPSI Mean?

KPSI is the knots per square inch. It is the density or the amount of knots tied around the weft of each rug and can vary depending upon the type of rug and the foundation of the rug (wool or cotton). The higher the KPSI, the tighter the weave of the rug is which helps increase the durability and can therefore increase the value.

 

Wool on Wool vs. Wool on Cotton

All of the rugs that we source here at Latham Vintage Rugs are either wool on wool or wool on cotton. The pile/knots are always made of wool; this is the part of the rug that we walk on. What can vary is the foundation/warp of the rug. This can be wool or cotton meaning that wool is knotted around the cotton base. Or wool on wool mean that wool is knotted around the wool base.

The easiest way to identify this is to look at the fringe of the rug; it will either be cotton or wool.

 

How do I know my rug is hand-made?

This is easy but can still be confusing to some. Just take a look at the back for your rug. If your rug is truly hand-made you will see the same pattern on the front and back and the individual knots are quite visible. If you see a cloth or canvas backing, you know your rug was manufactured.

 

Vintage, semi-antique or antique?

This is one the most interesting facts about the rugs but also one of the most confusing. And it is often the most asked question I receive, "What is the age of the rug?" While the age is an approximation, the ages generally fall into these three ranges.

Rugs that are vintage are at least 30 years old. Semi-antique rugs are 70-100 years old (sourced from the 1920s-1930s) Antique rugs are at least 120+ years old.

If you made it this far, my hope is that you now feel a little more confident in understanding the terms around this trade. And that you feel a new or refresh sense of appreciation for these hand-made pieces of art. Each rug carries such a tradition and piece of history with it. Representing the past and playing a part in making a better, more sustainable future.