Now rendered in India in a warp-wrapping technique on a rug weaving loom, New Zealand wool on a cotton warp, these are intended for hard wear on your floor! The Souzani designs are notably cheerful and striking. We have a large variety of soumak rugs, including many Suzani designs. In addition to the “Mountain High Soumak Rug" or Suzani 7, A Rug For All Reasons sells the “Sun Palace Soumak Rug" or Suzani 3, “Marigold and Mocha Soumak Rug" or Suzani 4, and the “Terrafina Soumak Rug" or Suzani 13. We also carry many other soumaks in a variety of designs, including the “Equestria Soumak Rug" or Pazyryk.
]]>We understand the confusion. We haven’t figured out a better way to handle it. All of the rugs on our web site are available. It just may take time for them to arrive. We can’t make a rug available, even if there is a wait, unless it’s posted on our website.
We have several categories of rugs:
Another important thing to remember is that all of our rugs, except perhaps the one-of-a-kind type, may be customized in special sizes and even colors.
]]>A little primer on how to use this searchable inventory:
1) Click here to start your search.
2) Click on “Shape and Size” to enter your size parameters.
3) Next, you may choose “Style” in order to specify a style (e.g. Modern, Traditional, Tribal).
(Our artisan rug selections include old or antique rugs, which you may view by selecting “Antique” or “Vintage” under the “Age” category.)
4) Choosing “Construction,” you’ll be able to specify flat weave, hand knotted, hand made or Tibetan weave. All of the rugs pictured on our online store are hand knotted, the most durable types of rugs.
5) The last category we suggest you include is “Material.” All of the rugs pictured on our online rug store are “wool,” “silk,” or “wool and silk.” We don’t recommend any other types of fiber content.
Click here to start your search
Call us at 877-817-0246 or 541-840-3384 for information or prices of rugs you find, or if you need help with your search.
]]>This rug, as with all the Gangchen Tibetan, was hand knotted in Tibet with the world’s most beautiful wool: long-staple, lanolin rich wool from sheep who live at high altitude in Tibet. Handspun, hand-carded, and then dyed, there is subtle variation of color in the yarns which, along with the luster of the wool, makes these rugs come alive and truly “sparkle.”
The weaving of these Tibetans is very dense and tight. A timeless design that would work in a wide variety of settings, Parpa and Vines also has many wonderful colors that would be easy to work with. Custom sizing and colors are also an option.
We hope you love this rug as much as we do! Happy Spring (not quite here yet but on its way)!
]]>Harald Bohmer, who launched a rug renaissance in the 1980s with the introduction of natural dyes to modern rugs, was a German student who studied in Turkey. He fell in love with the country, and his interest in rugs and dyes became a passion. When he learned of a method for analyzing the dyes in fabrics (thin-layer chromatography), he began a methodical investigation into the dyes in Turkish rugs. He learned what natural dyestuffs rugmakers had used 100 years earlier, before the dyer’s art had been lost, and how these artisans had used them.
Dr. Bohmer conceived the notion of teaching Turkish rug weavers the art of dyeing with natural substances. Eventually the School of Fine Arts in Istanbul agreed to sponsor a project with Dr. Bohmer as chief advisor, called DOBAG, an acronym in Turkish meaning Natural Dye Research and Development Project. Weavers in the villages around Ayvacik started weaving natural-dye rugs under Dr. Bohmer's supervision. DOBAG was the start of the Oriental rug renaissance.
George Jevremovic and his company, Woven Legends. took that renaissance much further. He was impressed when he first saw DOBAG-inspired rugs from the villages around Ayvacik. In 1983 he began asking weavers around Ayvacik to make rugs for him, but he quickly realized that the nature of Ayvacik tribal and village life didn't allow him to make larger carpets. He wanted the same kind of charm and naivete in large rugs that one usually finds only in small ones, and he wanted to weave rugs in early tribal or village designs, especially designs from northern Iran. Up to that time, nearly every large rug, old or new, was curvilinear and formal-looking.
Between 1984 to 1987 George Jevremovic slowly established his Woven Legedns production of natural-dye rugs in Turkey. But the major obstacle was a lack of models for what he was trying to do. Everything had to be worked out. Although handspun wool was still available in Turkey, quantities fell far short of what he needed. He had to seek the advice of experts on natural dyeing. Eventually Woven Legends employed 15,000 people: spinners, weavers, dyers, and others.
Turkish Bidjar (Euphrates line) from Woven Legends. It is based on a mid-19th century Persian Bidjar.
Woven Legends showed that antique designs could be beautifully rendered in new carpets. These are the first new rugs with true character to be seen in the west in a century. This was due in large part to the fact that weavers were allowed the freedom to improvise enough so that they were able to imbue their rugs with some of their individual spirit.
When George Jevremovic was asked which rugs he considered to be collectible, he replied ’some of the Turkish rugs’. He said he experiences the weavers in China and India as being agreeable, cooperative and skillful. He has a different experience when he asks Turkish weavers to weave rugs from drawings. They too are skillful and would like to please, but there is something -- he calls it "DNA" -- that makes them a little resistant to following someone else’s drawings! **
The Tibetan Plateau is an ecological region of enormous significance both at the local level for Tibetan herders and farmers, and at the national and even global levels for biodiversity conservation. At the highest altitudes, conservation and management of water resources are particularly significant, as around 40 percent of the world’s population is found within the watersheds of the rivers originating on the Tibetan Plateau.
In addition, the Tibetan Plateau ecosystems influence on a large scale atmospheric patterns, such as the Asian monsoon and high-altitude jet streams. The area is also home to many unique habitats and to numerous endangered wildlife species.
Local inhabitants in the region, especially Tibetan herders and farmers (as well as several other ethnic groups), deserve increased attention for reasons of equity in development in the context of rapid globalization – and also because so little is known in the rest of the world about the people and cultures of the Tibetan Plateau region.
We became aware of an organization known as Machik through one of our rug importers, Chris Walter and Yayla Tribal Rugs, who has been a significant supporter through sales of his all natural-dye Tibetan rugs. Machik is a Washington, DC-based non-profit organization whose mission is to strengthen communities on the Tibetan plateau. Their work is organized at a grassroots level around six themes: Education, Conservation and Green Technology, Women's Initiatives, Economic Opportunities, Multimedia and Digital Technology, and Social Entrepreneurship.
DONATE -- You can help strengthen communities on the Tibetan plateau by making an online donation to Machik (www.machik.org). Or send a check payable to "Machik,” 1609 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20009, USA
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The first tribal piled rugs or carpets may have imitated the texture and insulating properties of animal pelts. The oldest complete carpet was found in the frozen tomb of a nomadic chieftain at Pazyryk in southern Siberia. It has been dated to the 5th century B.C. and can be seen in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
Many of the nomadic people have settled down over the centuries, and the longer they've been settled, the more diluted by other influences the designs have become. This has also been because of the migrations of peoples due to political upheavals all over the world.
The term "tribal" used with rugs refers mainly to weavings made for personal use within a community. As nomadic peoples settled down, rug weaving became more of a cottage industry and rugs started to be produced as a means of livelihood. As the weavers have become subject to selling pressures, market demand has become such an influence that it has overridden communal tradition.
These "tribal" pieces that we present here in our online store are really in the tribal style: the gabbehs, Balouch soumaks, Qashgai designs, all based on the weaving techniques and designs of the nomadic people of Iran but most probably made in village workshops and cottage weaving industries. With a few exceptions, some of the spontaneity of the antique Persian tribal pieces has surely been lost -- but those exceptions are out there still!
Unlike cottage weavers, workshop weavers, or city weavers, the tribal weavers achieve expressive power in their rugs through the use of color, space and proportion. The best examples are very appealing and very creative as they are one-of-a-kind works of art. Unlike the other more refined types of rugs, they are woven without a graph -- each piece is a creation of the weavers imagination. Many of the tribal rugs, such as the Gabbehs or Kashkuli rugs, are also woven on more primitive looms than the more refined types of carpets. Often these looms were designed to be rolled up and unrolled when the nomadic herders arrived at new grazing grounds.
Some of these rugs, such as the older gabbehs, are reminiscent of animal pelts -- thick and shaggy. Some historians believe pelts were the inspiration for these primitive types of rugs.
The Rugs we show here are modeled after gabbeh designs, including the Balouch soumak rugs. (The rugs previously known as Balouch soumaks are much more muted.) These are interpretations of gabbeh designs done with vegetal dyes in knotted pile combined with a fine soumak weave. When they're done well, these modern-day versions of the gabbehs and Balouch soumaks have great appeal to western rug buyers because of their spontaneity and charm as well as value as pieces of wonderful art.
***A caveat from A Rug For All Reasons: The photographs of these rugs don't represent these rugs as well as they could. While we aren't happy to have photographs that don't show a rug to its best advantage, our devotion to these rugs surpasses those considerations. We feel that you'll understand how special they are, even with the limitations of the photos.
When the old Gabbehs became rare, Gholamreza Zollanvari started to work together with the Gashgai Nomads to produce new ones. By this time, the natural dyes had disappeared along with the use of handspun wool. Zollanvari started producing the Gabbeh with handspun wool, vegetable dyes and in european sizes. That is why, still today, Gholamreza is called “the father of the modern Gabbeh.” They have found tremendous popularity in Europe and the Americas. Unfortunately, because of the embargo on Persian rugs in the United States, these are the last of this type of tribal rug from Iran that we may see for sale here -- ever.
View our Persian Tribal collection
The following books give you a good overview of the history of the patterns, the carpets and the nomads:
Start with the best material and you get the best result. That's why Gangchen rugs are made exclusively from the finest Changphel or Tibetan Highland sheep wool. Prized for its thick, long fiber, outstanding tensile strength, and high luster, this wool is absolutely the best for carpets.
Not all wool is created equal. Just as the grain of beautiful wood is the distinguishing factor in contributing to a wonderful piece of furniture's look and inherent value, the special quality of the wool in Gangchens is the factor that distinguishes these extraordinary rugs. The fibers of the wool are thick and long, averaging six inches in length, and the exceptional thickness of these fibers adds to the luster of the Gangchens.
The cuticles or scale-like structures on the fibers of these Tibetan Highland sheep are larger than those found on other sheep. Large scales mean a smoother surface, which is more reflective of light, better at displaying the color and at creating a splendid sheen and a radiant luster, unique to Gangchens alone.
No other fiber takes and holds dye like Tibetan Highland sheep wool. The dyes actually seep into the core of the fibers, dyeing them from the inside out, so the colors are richer, more saturated, and more vibrant.
These rugs are a beautiful marriage of traditional design and construction with simplicity of design, vibrant color, and unsurpassed quality that are so perfect for the well-loved home of today.
]]>It's no secret in our homes that dogs and cats love oriental carpets as much as we do! Our furry family have always ended up adopting a particular rug which they have found appealing for texture and/or thickness. So if you want to give your special friend a special gift that you will find aesthetically pleasing, try one of our smaller sized rugs. We recommend our Tibetan rugs, which have a thickness that both dogs and cats enjoy.
Some people mistakenly think a rug might get damaged by their pets, but in fact handmade rugs can withstand a great deal of wear and tear and remain in great condition. There are only a few minor pet related rug care issues to be aware of. You can find information about these issues, and our suggestions for taking care of them in our Rug Care section. If you ever feel your rug is just getting too dirty, a professional rug cleaning can restore it to it's original luster.
If you would like a recommendation for a special rug for your dog or cat, send us a note!
]]>The rug-making world has been immersed in a swirl of change for many years. People in the rug-weaving countries have been subject to the whims of political changes, movements of peoples, the dictates of style and taste. There have been two embargoes on Iranian (Persian) rugs, one of which is currently in place.
Because the west was not able to acquire Persian rugs for so many years in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the weavers of other countries, notably Pakistan, India and China, began making rugs emulating the Persian designs.
9/11 drove many of the weavers in Paksistan and Afghanistan out of work because of the disappearing market in the west for their rugs. The refugee Afghani weavers in Pakistan returned to Afghanistan, some of them continuing to practice their trade.
When the crash of 2008 occurred, much of the middle class in the west stopped investing in art and high-quality objects such as handmade rugs. The weavers have had to find other work, partly because of less demand, but also because many of the weavers have gone into jobs where they can make equal or better pay for less difficult and demanding work, such as jobs in the technology field. As fewer people make rugs, there are fewer high-quality rugs in the marketplaces of the world, prices gradually are increasing, and fewer people are able to experience the joy of seeing and owning this type of rug, especially the younger generation.
As part of our mission, A Rug For All Reasons hopes to provide a source of information about handmade rugs as well as a source for acquiring really good rugs. Hand-knotted rugs are expensive, but we strive to keep our prices as reasonable as possible. We hope to enable the weavers to continue producing rugs that are not only durable and beautiful but also represent an age-old, traditional art.
To learn more about handmade rugs, visit our Rug Info section, starting with our article on "What is an Oriental rug?," as well as our blog article "A Short History Of Rugs."
]]>He stocked some tufted wool rugs as time went on.
When he retired at a youngish age, my mother decided she’d become an oriental rug dealer. She was a wiz. It was a time when many people remembered growing up with oriental rugs, but then they had gone out of fashion with the onset of wall-to-wall carpeting in many homes. Some customers remarked to me that they remember small oriental rugs being put in the dog’s bed!
My mother took me with her to San Francisco and New York from time to time to visit her sources for rugs. Exposure to the rugs combined with her enthusiasm and love of the rugs she brought into her shop were contagious. One day I saw a Persian Afshar in her store, which I fell in love with and purchased from her on a lay-away plan (at a discount, if I remember!) I have it next to me to this day and continue to treasure that rug.
My mother acquired many rugs of her own, which have been passed down to my brothers and me: a very fine silk and wool Persian (Iranian) Nain, some quirky, dense “iron rugs,” another name for Persian Bidjars, Turkish rugs from the ‘70s and ‘80s that were made by rug makers bringing back handspun, vegetal dye rugs as part of the “rug renaissance” that was taking place.
I consider myself to be very lucky to have been exposed to the beauty and character of wonderful handmade rugs and to have been part of this amazing Renaissance. Hand-knotted rugs, now more than ever, are to be treasured, as fewer and fewer people are involved in the skilled and labor-intensive craft of rug-weaving. (See our related article on “Current Trends in the Rug-Making World”).
]]>discovered in a Siberian burial site, is more than 2,500 years old (note how well the intricate design has held up - a tribute to the craft and construction of handmade rugs). It is generally accepted that the special craft was developed simultaneously in different parts of the world, probably around the same period of time and spread throughout the world by nomadic tribes. Since then, carpet weaving has been a mainstay in countries such as Persia (Iran), Egypt, Turkey, China, Pakistan, and India, and in more recent times Tibet and Nepal.
Carpet weaving was a craft of many nomadic tribes and developed because of the need for protection from the elements. The Kazak design (seen below - our Kazak design 5), is a
perfect example of the nomadic styles of past and present. The geometric designs were easily woven by nomads who migrated throughout the world. Most were woven on horizontal looms that could be easily taken up when the tribes moved from one place to another. A high level of detail that can be achieved with fine yarns and an upright stationary loom. The striated colorations of the tribal rugs also denote the different dyes and wool used as they moved from one place to another and produced the wools and dyes, as they were needed.The Tabriz, as well as Sarouk, Keshan, Bidjar, Herati and others are designs that are depicted by the actual city where they originated from. So-called "city"rugs, these works of art show exquisite detail due to the fine knotting and quality-controlled materials.
The rugs from each country, and even each region of a country, often have their own unique characteristics of construction and design, which help in their identification. However, in modern times many of these characteristics have been "hybridized" because of the movements of refugee weavers and because many of the Persian designs are being made in other countries such as India and Pakistan with innovations and colors that may not have been used traditionally.
This informative Wikipedia reference on Persian carpet has more on the Pazryk Carpet, as well as history on other rug making periods, materials, designs, and motifs.
]]>To spot-clean a spill, dirt or other material out of your rug, you will need warm water and a cloth towel. Simply wet the towel in the water and blot the area clean. You may need to change the water once or twice. You will know the area is clean when the water you squeeze out of the rag is clean.
Depending on what has dirtied the rug, you may consider waiting for it to dry, so that much of it can be vacuumed off before blotting it clean (See our related rug care article that discusses specific time sensitive issues such as cleaning pet pee out of a rug as soon as possible, and avoiding prolonged dampness).
In almost all instances, regular vacuuming of an oriental rug with an electric vacuum cleaner is good for the rug, however if not done properly, damage can occur, particularly to the fringe. A dirty rug wears prematurely, and regular vacuuming helps prevent dirt on the surface of the rug from filtering down into the pile where it can accumulate and cause increased wear on the foundation of the rug. Still, be careful with a cleaner equipped with a power brush or "beater bar"; these powered brushes in the vacuum head help the vacuum do a good job on machine-made carpeting, but they cause a raking effect on the top layer of a handwoven rug's pile if used too strenuously. If your vacuum cleaner has a power brush, use it only occasionally and lightly on your oriental rug. For routine cleaning, use just the vacuum attachment designed for hard floors. Frequently fringes get caught and chewed up by the rotating mechanism of the brush. If you pull the vacuum backwards over the fringe (away from the rug), the fringe will not be caught by the power head of the vacuum.
You may have noticed that your handmade rug has a "direction" to the fibers -they are trained in one direction. Because of this you will see a slightly different sheen when looking at it from different sides. Because of this direction the fibers take, it is best to vacuum first one direction, then the other to insure that the vacuum remove debris effectively.
We recommend having your rug hand washed by a professional only if it is actually dirty, or every couple years. This will clean out the debris particles that may have gotten deep down into the pile where it can accumulate and cause increased wear on the foundation of the rug. This is a specialized process just for handmade rugs. We can refer you to a handwashing service, which is the recommended method for cleaning any good, wool rug. Your rugs will come back to you feeling soft, colors brightened, and clean. Feel free to send us a note with the size of your rug and where you live. We will respond with instructions on where to take your rug or send it via UPS, and an approximate price.
]]>When your rug has been stored for a long period of time, and you are ready to have it out again, you may consider getting it professionally cleaned, which will be like a spa for the fibers of your rug. Your rug will come back to you feeling soft, colors brightened, and clean (see Our Services).
See all our Rug Care recommendations!
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