Welcome,

The upgrade to the website is complete with a new home page layout that has fade out images on the left hand side and on the right hand side of the page a selection of clickable images.

Recently added for the summer is Persian stock of kilims, traditional and contemporary.

Do have a look round and state your views.

When furnishing a room - buy a rug first or last

In most cases when clients are looking for a rug they already have the furnishings and decoration in place so the style of the rug is determined by a combination of what is present in the room and the clients' taste. This can mean that finding the right rug which brings together colour and style of the room can be difficult.

Sometimes having moved into a new home or starting a room afresh such as in a hall the clients chooses the rug first. This means that they have a greater choice in way of colours and styles and are no longer constrained by the furnishings of the room. There are however some disadvantages if buying say for a lounge. Without the furnishings in place it is harder to assess what is the correct size of the rug. By drawing the room and proposed furnishings to scale can help determine the right size range. If the choice of rugs is large the client could become overwhelming so good analysis of the clients' needs is essential to assess their wishes.

Costs of an Iranian rug

Sadly the prices of Iran rugs are going up and only up. There are a number of factors which are causing this increase.

In Iran weaving is considered to be of low social status, poorly paid and physically demanding. With high inflation more and more weavers are seeking jobs elsewhere which bring a better income. Rug producers have to either pay more for their workers or end up with fewer rugs. In both cases they are likely to increase their prices to the trade buyer.

The high inflation has almost doubled the price of petrol since the beginning of the year which affects the logistical costs such as transport of rugs.

World prices for wool, cotton and silk have increased in price for several years. The number of sheep has declined in New Zealand forcing the price up and this is not helped by China buying much of the world's reserve of wool. Since the beginning of the year the wool price has gone up by 30%. Cotton used for the foundation of many rugs has increased in cost by 50% since the new year and quadrupled in the last two years. This has been primarily due to droughts and flooding resulting in poor harvests. An improved harvest should help.

The value of the rial against the euro has dropped since January mitigating the other increases. However, I have noticed that suppliers more often return from a buying trip to Iran saying that they had to look much much harder for rugs with the current prices and for some styles they have not purchased any.

The rug price has also increased in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan but does vary. Some my suppliers who have their own production seem to be fine but suppliers I have spoken to who buy from a variety of producers in say Pakistan have had more difficulty with the floods, inflation and demand for higher wages. Prices here have not risen to the same degree as Iran so I have purchased some stock from there to allow a good range of prices for my goods.

Back in 2007 in a more prosperous Europe we had become used to comparatively low rug prices against income. Oriental Rugs have now returned to a luxury item. However, prices are still reasonable for older stock.

Glossary: C

In each newsletter I cover generally one or more letters of the alphabet - in this issue the letters 'C' - with a selection of rugs and technical information.

Cartoon

Where a design is long established and not too complicated such as with a repeat geometric pattern the design will be passed from mother to daughter. For more complicated designs as in those used in a workshop a cartoon may be used. A new cartoon would be needed for a new design or an existing design but different scale. Here the patterns are drawn to scale using graph paper each square representing a knot. The higher the knot density the greater the ability to have more curves in the design. For most rugs only part of the rug is drawn as the weaver can determine the rest of the design from the repeats.

Carpet loom

The carpet loom is the same structure as hand-weaving a textile but using much stronger materials to allow for the weight and tension required. There are two types of looms the horizontal and vertical loom. The horizontal loom is the simpler of the two and allows nomadic weavers when moving to new pastures easily to dismantle it and then carry it by a pack animal. For pack animal to carry the loom and partially completed rug the maximum width is 5' (1.5m).

The vertical loom can be much bigger with several weavers sitting side by side. There are many types of vertical loom. In one as the weaving progresses the vertical bench is raised to the correct level. When there is no adjustable bench as in a simple loom the warps are untied and the woven part of rug wound round the lower beam. The warps have then to be retied to resume weaving. This is a time-consuming process. The most sophisticated type of loom the "roller beam" allows the finished part of the rug to be wound around the lower beam and from the top beam warps unwound. This allows great flexibility in size.

Chequerboard design

This term is a loose definition for a design with a series of rows with a squares of alternating colours. The simplest of only two colours would be found in Tibetan rugs. The detail here is a Persian Senneh kilim using natural dyes in a variety of natural dyed blue,green, soft brown hues, skillfully put together.

Comb for beating and design

A beater comb is used in weaving a rug to beat down the rows of weft which hold the knots in place. There is considerable variation in the appearance of the comb from region to region.

A simplified comb motif is also used within the design of tribal rugs. Shown here is a detail of a charming Qashqai comb kilim design.