Where Do Oriental Rugs Come From?
When you hear the term oriental rugs, you immediately think of rugs made from the Asian region. This is partly correct but the classification of oriental rugs does not include some Asian countries. Only specific countries make specific rugs which can be categorized under the name oriental. Authentic oriental rugs are handmade and come knotted with pile or woven without pile. The fact that they are made by hand and often brought in from far away countries makes them expensive.
These days, machines make these kinds of rug as well, but those made with machines are not considered authentic rugs due to the very fact that they can be mass produced. The knotting and the weaving must be done by people manually for it to be considered authentic. These oriental rugs are sometimes unevenly knotted or woven and this adds to their individuality compared to the perfection of the machine made rugs.
Origins Of Oriental Rugs
These rugs are also known as carpets in many places. Their beauty and design are coveted by many and this has driven their prices sky high. Authentic oriental rugs are classified into Persian rugs, Kurdish rugs, Anatolian rugs, Tibetan, Chinese, Turkestan rugs, Caucasian rugs and rugs from central Asia. These oriental rugs are usually hand made and highly prized for their designs and individuality.
Countries that are well known for producing excellent quality oriental rugs are Turkey, Iran, China, Vietnam and India. It may be difficult to distinguish between a machine made oriental rug and a hand woven one. Hand woven rugs used to be more expensive then the machine made ones but nowadays, machine made oriental rugs now have little price difference from the authentic ones.
The art of hand making these kinds of rugs have been passed down through generations of each family that are into rug making. Making these rugs can be time consuming and there is a limit to how many rugs can be made in a month's time. This is one of the reasons why hand made oriental rugs are supposed to be more expensive and more coveted than machine made ones.
These oriental rugs are actually used for aesthetic purposes rather than practical purposes. The cost of a rug made with hand made manual labor also makes it less practical to use for daily wear and tear. They are sometimes also hung as tapestries in some homes or used in formal rooms.
