Construction of Persian and Oriental Rugs
Mansour’s offers only high-quality hand-knotted rugs made of superior wools and silks. Each Oriental rug is created on a specially constructed loom outfitted with warp (horizontal) and weft (vertical) strands, typically of cotton, but occasionally of silk or wool. Hand-woven rugs take time — the weaver sits at the bottom of the loom and works from the bottom up, tying specialized knots onto the foundation strands and producing the rug’s pile and design.
Spotting Oriental Rugs and Persian Carpets of the Highest Caliber
The best Persian rugs can have from 150 to 450 knots per square inch. The more knots, the more dense and durable the rug. When the knotting process is complete—which may take two years or more, depending on rug size—the cotton cords are cut and those at the top and bottom are knotted into fringe. The length of the cords determines the length of the fringe, just one of the many attractive attributes of hand-knotted rugs.
Why Hand-knotted Persian Rugs and Oriental Rugs are the Best Choice
Before you buy an Oriental rug, it’s important to tell the difference between a rug that has been mass-produced, and one that has been handcrafted, so you know what you are buying and what you can expect.
In general, machine-made rugs do not contain the same hand-spun, high-quality wool. The colors are more drab, the patterns less complex. And the yarns may not even be wool, but less durable synthetic fibers, making the rug subject to edge curling, over time. A good way to tell the difference between a machine-made and a hand-knotted rug is to inspect the back before you buy a Persian rug.
Machine-made rugs have identical, uniform rows, and fringe that has been sewn or glued on. Remember, handmade rugs are never tufted. Tufting is a process that employs a mechanical “gun” that pushes fibers through a backing to create the pile. It is a completely different method than hand-tying each and every knot onto a sturdy foundation.
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