A Carpet For Spring
A perfect carpet for the Spring Season Tabriz Garden Carpet Size: 9’6 x 12’6 Spring comes but once a year and in most of Persia it is indeed fleeting. So why not make it more enduring and bring it inside during the hot and dry summers, and the cold, windy winter? Thus was born the garden (or chahar bagh, lit. four part garden) carpet. The first, as far as literary sources go, was created in the 7th century A.D. for the Persian king Khusrau ( Chosroes), and employed silk, precious metal thread and precious stones to delineate and decorate a
RUG APPRAISALS & RUG VALUATION
RUG APPRAISALS & RUG VALUATION A knowledgeable dealer with years of experience and familiarity with the current market is the best way to accurately appraise your rugs. This is especially true in a market where the demand for certain types of rugs changes based on certain designs, technical features and colors. A wide range of factors influence the value of an antique rug. A few characteristics which aid in determining the selling price are: condition, age, design, coloration, materials, size and where it was made. Please contact us at 212-532-5111 or email us at [email protected] to obtain an accurate assessment. Our
Contemporary Abstract Viscose and Wool Carpets
Contemporary Abstract Viscose and Wool Carpets Carpet weaving has expanded far beyond the usual Oriental rug patterns, field/border distinction, materials, and saturated colors. Indian weavers have taken the lead in using viscose silk for accents and larger tonal areas. The contrast between wholly matte wool and abrashed (natural color variation) tonally mixed viscose silk is something entirely innovative unlike the obvious wool-cotton-silk contrasts on traditional carpets. Light, light, light is a basic trend. Another modern feature has been the avoidance of the border, replaced by an abstract painterly pattern of droplets, strokes, dots, drips and flows. The influence of Modernists
Fabulous Color in an Oversize Heriz Carpet
Fabulous Color in an Oversize Heriz Carpet 14’ x 20’10 Dark indigo blue is such a frequent dominant (or at least a strong secondary) tone in oriental rugs, that it is both surprising and eye-refreshing when it is absent. Such is the case with our bold antique Persian Heriz carpet with a palette emphasizing sky blue, ivory and ruby red. More than any other village or town weave, Heriz area carpets, be they of the Bakshayesh type with allover patterns or more classic examples with medallion and corners layouts, revel in light blue tones: turquoise, sky blue, powder blue, palest
ORGANIC RUGS
Sheep are the first stage in carpet making. We call this our Organic Line because from sheep to rug, all the processes are organic and natural. The sheep are hand sheared and the wool is separated initially by colour into beiges, creams, taupes and various shades of brown. Natural washing with water, repeated over and over, removes the accumulated detritus of small sticks, leaves and other material picked up by the sheep while grazing. This process is repeated until the wool is soft, clean and pliable. All the wool yarn in our organic line is handspun by locals, both for
Less is More
Less is More Originally attributed to the German architect Mies van der Rohe, and now much overused, this general notion surely applies to contempo carpets. But what does it really say? The idea is based in a separation of form from embellishment. Suppose we get rid of these distractions and focus on what a carpet should do and how much we like it. We want it to be warm, inviting, something to put our feet upon when we alight from bed. What does a pattern have to do with this? Warm and fluffy is the essence, the colors are just
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions Q1: What qualifies an oriental rug to be an antique? Answer: Antique: 100 years and older. Semi-Antique: 75 to 100 years old. Old: 50 to 75 years old. Semi-Old: 25 to 50 years old. Used: 1 to 25 years old. Q2: How can you tell if a rug is hand-made? Answer: When viewed from the front, hand-made and machine-made rugs can look similar. To get a more in-depth look at how the rug was constructed, look at the back side and fringes. Hand-Made Rugs: The overall design of the rug will be clearly seen on the back
What is meant when a rug is described as ‘antique’?
What is meant when a rug is described as ‘antique’? Technically, it refers to the carpet being at least 100 years old. A rug bearing an authentic date prior to l915 is clearly antique in 2015. Dates are sometimes altered, forged, inserted or otherwise hanky-pankied, and rugs with dates not in accordance with accepted stylistic or typological evolution must be scrutinized. What about carpets not bearing dates or other chronologically definitive inscriptions (i.e., a patron’s or artist’s name whose dates can be independently established)? We must fall back upon general, accumulated knowledge/ trade wisdom. Long experience tells an expert how
Is a Carpet Blog Needed?
Is a carpet blog needed? To inform, To promote. To get a conversation going. To provoke. To question. Taste. Style. Fashion. Overlapping terms, yet different in connotation. Taste is something that can be acquired, not necessarily bought, but gotten through acquisition, exposure, conversation, comparison. Taste can be improved, changed, transferred, expanded. Everybody can have taste, with a little effort. Taste is the mark of a civilized person. Style is different. Not to be confused with in style, see fashion. Style is innate, in born, part of a person’s makeup. You have it or you don’t. You can ‘t buy it,
Sustainability
“Sustainability” is currently a vogue word. A product, process, activity or style is vaunted as sustainable. But what does this mean, especially as it relates to carpets? A product or process is sustainable if it can be repeated into the future without producing cumulative ill effects on the environment, economy or peoples’ lives. So, how and to what degree are oriental rugs a sustainable good? Let us first look at what goes into a rug. There are foundation materials, pile materials and processes involved in putting them all together. The more sustainable the individual components are, the more sustainable is
