Rugs have a primal appeal. In fact, I have seen the calming influence that rugs can have on a family that has moved to a new city as they lay out their rugs and place the furniture around them. Wool rugs date back to the earliest days of civilization when hunters became herders. Rather than constantly hunting for food and hides for warmth, peoples around the world domesticated animals. Shearing the sheep, they were able to make pile fabrics for clothing and eventually for rugs. This took place about 10,000 years ago and rugs have changed little since.
The oldest known rug is 2,500 years old and is on display in St Petersburg, Russia. It was found in 1949 held captive by Siberian ice in the tomb of a nomad king buried in 500 BC. A very fine rug, (shown left, below), it was made exactly the same way rugs are made today. There’s a replica of this rug, which is known as the Pazyryk rug, on the wall at Fine Rugs of Charleston.
Pazyryk rug: The oldest known rug is 2,500 years old.
The rug as it would have appeared in 500 BC.
The sheep live on to be sheared for more rugs the next year. The cotton plants that were harvested for the warp and fill threads are replanted from the seeds captured in the cotton gin. The trees that were cut for firewood to heat the fires for dying the wool grow anew. The natural vegetable dyes are collected the same way they have been for thousands of years. Most weaving is done outside the homes of the weavers in the daylight. Many rugs are still washed in nearby rivers and left to dry in the bright sunlight.
In full disclosure, though, rugs for export to the west will often be made indoors and washed in buildings that use softeners, moth proofing and aroma enhancers in the water. Also, some rugs are dyed using petro-chemicals, but there is a growing move back to the natural dyes.
While I know that rugs are bought and prized for their decorative beauty it is very comforting to call to mind that the rugs we sell are enhancing homes without damaging our increasingly fragile environment.
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Rob working with a customer
Sometimes customers are surprised when I come to the house with the delivery crew. I like to do this because I can make sure the rug placed properly with the furniture and that it is in the right direction. A hand knotted rug will often have a dramatic light and dark side, and I like to give the client the choice. But, mostly it is important for me to see that the customer is truly happy with their purchase.
And it does help me stay in some state of fitness; I am not certain what state that is, but I am sure it helps.
A week or so ago, we were delivering a rug to a long-time client who had 4 or 5 other rugs from Fine Rugs in their home. After we put this one in place, I asked to check on the others, to be sure they were behaving. We saw a few small stains and gave some advice on how to lift them out. On one, a rug from Afghanistan, I noticed a few sprouts that can pop up after some use in high traffic areas. These occur because the wool they use in that country, (it’s called Gazni wool), is very silky but quite springy. During the washing processes a few pile threads may become looped around other threads and held down as the rug is sheared. We call them sprouts and they can be clipped off, just like they would have been when rugs are sheared. I snipped them and the rug looked good as new.
Our customer was very happy the solution was so simple, and then said she had one rug that was terrible and had hundreds of these ‘sprouts’. I took a deep breath and, knowing that my face was red, said “Oh, really?”
“But, it’s not one of yours,” she continued, relieving my anxiety.
“Well, let’s look at it anyway,” I boldly declared.
She was right; it had hundreds of places where threads had popped up above the originally smooth surface of the rug. I told her that the rug had been improperly finished and that it shouldn’t be happening to this extent. She confessed that it was one of those 80% off rugs that she bought from a tent. The guy was gone and now she had this problem.
I told her that we could make it look better but, since this rug was poorly finished, it would continue happen. She said now that she knew how to manage the problem, she would try to do it herself. She also admitted that while she paid more for the Fine Rugs in her home, she had viewed them as investments and, seeing how they were performing, she was very glad that she had.
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