The Rug Maketh the Room

Creating the truly personal look to our home, whether in one particular room or the whole house, requires a great deal of thought, planning and effort, as well as a reasonable knowledge of the vast array of sources and products available. We can choose from an unprecedented range of decorating accessories available today- we are truly spoilt for choice. It seems that not a month goes by that more exciting products appear to tempt us.


One decorative item has defied changing fashions and effects of time and has increased in popularity like no other. Regardless of the look we seek to achieve, whether with the changes of fashion and taste through the years, or the more traditional, classical look, there is one furnishing that has remained timeless not only through the years, but through the centuries: the Oriental rug.

It might be safely said that no other decorative article has had as long a distinguished influence with so many decorative applications as the authentic Oriental rug or carpet.

Steeped in Eastern history, the Oriental rug traces its ancestry several thousand years. Textiles from the East have been appreciated in Europe for a very long time. Records exist of carpet merchants in Venice and Bruges in the Middle Ages, while rugs attributed to the fifteenth century have been found in churches in Sweden and Italy. Rugs were seen often in paintings from this period, at first only at the feet of the Madonna, and later, in portraits and domestic scenes.

The Oriental carpet was seen as something rare and valuable. As new trade routes opened in the late nineteenth century, the Oriental carpet became available to a wider public. Their expansive vocabulary of colours and symbols caught the interest and imagination of artists and designers, who have been fascinated by rugs ever since.

Europeans have traditionally bought and treasured good rugs, but this has not been the case in Britain. Only

recently have we begun to discover that we can express our taste and good judgement in decorating, and that the

Oriental rugs can become a major consideration in any decorating approach - home, office and commercial. The appeal of rugs is twofold: their intrinsic merits, and their versatility and adaptability. A rug can be found for any room, to complement any decorative or historical style; and iit can be placed on the floor, hung on a wall, and draped over furniture.

Some of the most innovative interiors make a fine Oriental rug the major element, accented perhaps by tribal bags, trappings and mats. Oriental rugs as textile art are vying with pictures on our walls. Applications are nearly limitless, rugs invite us to break the rules, and explore the myriad possibilities they bring.

In an industrial world where repetition of mass-produced goods fills our lives, the Oriental rug represents a unique, organic creation, with its timeless designs, one that is individual, non-uniform and like no other. There are degrees of variation in design, colour, fibres, motifs and weaving style that make each one so different from another. Mass-production is efficient, it allows for innovation, and extensive variety, but it lacks individuality. In our homes we seek to create an environment special to our own personal world. Few elements are as personal as the Oriental rug.

Hand made rugs are practical: they bring warmth underfoot, they are portable - you can take it wherever you move, always incorporating it into new schemes, with the same excitement it had when first new; and a good rug will wear beautifully, lasting many years, always alive and welcoming.

Careful choice of a genuine Oriental rug can "make the room", add value to the space, and provide a personal stamp unlike any other accessory. What else can you see day after day, year after year that will continue to bring you pleasure at such modest cost? The oriental rug or carpet brings together into a focal point the many diverse elements in a room or space, creating a balance of colour, a focus, a sense of cohesion, like no other accessory.

There are several factors to be considered when buying a rug. These include finesse of knotting in relation to other rugs from the same area and type, the quality of execution

of the knots, the rarity, beauty, execution of design, and the quality of wools, condition, and the dyes and colours used, and finally, the finishing. Designs of rugs are predominately either geometric - from towns, villages and tribal traditions; or floral - usually from workshops where precision and attention to detail is paramount.