What is a handwoven carpet?

The meaning of hand-woven carpet is an underlay that is woven by hand from warp and weft, which naturally creates very beautiful designs and has many fans all over the world. Handwoven carpets are completely made by hand and machines have no role in their production. These carpets are woven by skilled weavers with special carpet weaving tools.

           Luxury homes with Persian hand-made rugs

The difference between a carpet and a rug

Their use is almost the same and both are used to cover the floor and decorate the interior of the house. Perhaps the biggest difference carpet and rug is their size. Carpets are floor coverings that are wall-to-wall and cover the entire floor and are usually glued to the floor, but rugs are those that are used to cover a specific part of the house, such as the living room or under the dining table. For this reason, it is easier to maintain, clean and wash the rug. Of course, both these words are the same in Iran.

History of handmade carpet

The handmade carpet has a very long history. Early humans imitated the nesting method of birds and weaved underlays from plant fibers such as reeds, but these underlays dried up and disappeared over time, so humans replaced the reed with wool and animal skin. Researchers believe that rug weaving started at that time. But these rugs did not have piles. With the development of urbanization and for more comfort, knots were used in the weave of these underlays, and carpets were born.

Most researchers believe that Asia is the birthplace of hand-woven carpets, but the exact country in which it started is unclear. The oldest hand-woven carpets were found in Siberia. This carpet, which is called Pazyryk, is more than 2400 years old. The fibers of the carpet are made of wool and cotton, which decompose over time, but Pazyryk was buried under snow and ice and was spared from rotting. This carpet is almost square and its length is 1.98 meters. The texture and knots of this carpet are similar to Iranian carpets. In addition, the floral border and the images of horsemen, deer grazing  and mythical animals with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion are among the designs of this carpet, which are very similar to the designs of Persepolis. Many researchers consider this carpet to belong to the Achaemenid period. The Pazyryk carpet is currently kept in the Hermitage Museum of Russia.

                                   Pazyryk carpet

Persian carpet

Iranians have always been interested in using hand-woven carpets in their homes, and by using this original art, they gave beauty and warmth to their homes. Iranians put their desires, beliefs, dreams, stories and heroes on the carpet . Each of the carpets has a different story and identity and is the result of effort of the weavers who spend their lives weaving the carpet. Each carpet embraces the soul of the weaver and no two carpets are exactly the same.

Nomads, villages and cities of Iran each have different designs and carpets. The most important difference between nomadic and urban carpets is in the special designs and coloring of these carpets. The nomads weave whatever they had in mind (lion, peacock, bird, fish, turtle, tree….) on the carpet according to the culture of the region. Due to the lack of access to the city, the nomads used limited colours (between 6 and 8 colors) in weaving carpets. They extracted these colors from the plants of their regions. Colours that are long-lasting and become more beautiful with time. Generally, energetic and warm colors are used in nomadic carpets.

Urban weavers used a map to weave carpets. First, the painters would draw subjects on a checkerboard with their preferred scale and then they would give the maps to the weavers. For this reason, urban carpets have a more regular structure and fine texture. Rural and nomadic carpets are woven from sheep wool and goat hair, but urban carpets use silk as well as wool.

                  Weaving carpets on horizontal loom

Persian carpet patterns

Patterns of Persian carpets are divided into the opposite categories: Eslimi, Shah Abbasi, Afshan, Bote Jegheh, Turkmen, Tree of Life, Golfarang, Kheshti, Mahi, Muharmat, Mihrabi, Nomadic, Hunting ground and…

The structure and raw materials for the production of handmade carpets

Warp:

It is the foundation of the carpet. Parallel and vertical threads that stretch from the top of the loom to its bottom. The strings are at a certain distance with uniform tension and alternately (one in front and the other in the back). The warps are more than cotton, but wool and silk are also used.

Weft:

The wefts are horizontal strands that are passed through the warps at a 90 degree angle. The weft is more than cotton. in all silk carpets, the weft is silk.

Pile:

It is called lints of the carpet. Pile is made of wool or silk that is wrapped around the warps. After being knotted, the pile creates the pattern of the carpet.

In some carpets, wool is the dominant material and silk is used to create a little shine in delicate parts of it. The quality of wool depends on the breed of sheep, the climate, the place of pasture and the time of picking the wool.

                        Warp, Weft and Pile

Why is hand-woven carpet better than machine-made carpet?

• Handwoven carpets are woven from natural fibers such as wool and silk, but machine-made carpets are woven from synthetic fibers such as acrylic, polyester and synthetic silk.
• The hand-woven carpet is woven by hand and has a higher artistic value than the machine-woven carpet that is woven with a machine.
• Hand-woven carpet piles are shiny and flexible, and also softer and more delicate due to the use of natural fibers.
• One of the most important features of the hand-woven carpet is its life and durability, which is several times longer compared to all types of floor coverings. Hand-woven carpet is the only floor covering that multiplies its beauty with traffic, light and washing.
• Handwoven carpet is woven from natural materials and is better for those who have asthma or breathing problems.
• Hand-woven carpet is made of wool, which is cold in summer and warm in winter, while machine-made carpet does not have this feature due to the fact that it has plastic materials.

Distinguishing hand-woven carpet from machine-made carpet

• The most important difference between hand-woven and machine-made carpets is in its roots. In a handwoven carpet, if we follow the carpet, we will reach the roots of the carpet, and the roots are not separated from the body of the carpet; But in the machine carpet, the roots are sewn to the carpet.
•  Study the back of the carpet. If the carpet is hand-woven, the knots on the back of the carpet are different in terms of size and are a little asymmetrical and irregular, but in machine-made carpets, all the knots are neatly placed together.
•  The hand-woven carpet is more soft than the machine-made one due to the use of natural fibers, and you will notice this if you touch the carpet.
• Wefts and borders in handwoven carpets have a sometimes uneven structure because they are stitched by hand. But in machine made carpets, the borders are woven by the machine, so it is very uniform and regular.
  

                              Back of handmade rug

Why is the price of Iranian handmade carpets high?

The quality of the materials used in the texture of the carpet has a great impact on its price. Wool, silk and dyes each have different qualities. Iranian handwoven carpets are woven from high quality natural fibers and they are often dyed with natural dyes, which are better than natural dyes. It is a chemical dye.
These carpets are also woven knot by knot by skilled Iranian weavers, which is why it can take up to 6 years to weave a 12-meter all-silk carpet. That’s why if you take good care of a handwoven carpet, it can be used for several generations and adds to its price.
A hand-woven carpet is the work of one to several weavers, and creativity, life, and many emotions lie behind it. Those who create a handwoven carpet are masters who, with the support of years of experience, know well how to create a lasting effect from good and organic raw materials.

Finally, due to the long carpet weaving process, a limited number of carpets can be produced. This is why there are fewer handwoven carpets in the market and this makes the price higher. Also, no two hand-woven carpets are the same, and by purchasing each hand-woven carpet, you buy a unique work.
Vernacarpets gives your homes more appearance and energy by offering different types of handwoven Iranian carpets with your desired budget. Leave the beauty of your homes to us.

Tips before buying a handmade carpet

Check the carpet in terms of design and size symmetry:

Fold the carpet in half and place the top and bottom of it together. A few centimeters of difference in the dimensions of the carpet in the upper and lower parts is normal and is a characteristic of handwoven carpet. If the distance from the top and bottom edges to the middle of the carpet is more than 3 cm, it will reduce the value of the carpet. To check the symmetry of the design, you can also measure the distance of different points of the carpet with a meter. In addition, make sure that the design is not unfinished in any part of the carpet.

Check the color of the carpet:

The carpet should be examined in natural light. The color of the carpet has dark and light sides depending on the angle you look at it. The color of the carpet should be uniform throughout its surface and not have any color disturbance. Also, compare the end part of the pile with the color of the carpet surface so that there is no color difference. This color difference shows that the surface of the carpet has been painted You can apply a wet cloth on parts of the carpet to make sure that the colors of the carpet are stable.

                                Cleaning carpet

Check the quality of carpet piles:

Carpet pile should be durable, flexible and shiny. Carpets with soft pile are less durable than carpets with thick pile and get dirty sooner. The height of the pile in different parts of the carpet should be the same and free of waves

Check the back of the carpet:

The back of the carpet says everything. By looking at the back of the carpet, you can see the density of knots and the uniformity of the texture of the carpet and the way the wefts pass. Also, if there are defects such as rotting or the effects of carpet repair, it can be seen on the back of the carpet. In general, the back of the carpet should be completely smooth.

Get help from hand-woven carpet experts:

You can get the most beautiful carpets at great prices at Vernacarpets and receive them anywhere in the world within 7 days.