Rugs From Iran - Village Weaves

The Kurdish town of Senneh (now Sanandaj) lies in the mountains some miles from the frontier with Iraq. Here, some of the thinnest and most sophisticated rugs you can find are woven - quite different to the thick, heavy carpets that are woven in many places in Kurdistan. The pile yarn, warp and weft threads are all extremely thin, and the knot count is very high. The Persian asymmetrical knot is known as the Senneh knot. Senneh is a small town with comparatively few weavers, and manufacturing takes a long time because the rugs are so fine that production is limited. There are few variations in patterns, which mainly consist of pink roses, herati, and mir-i-boteh motifs. Roses and boteh are woven in rows over the whole rug, while the herati motifs are used in medallions and the four corners. The predominant color in early rugs is indigo with plenty of subdued red; late 19th and early 20th century rugs are usually cream, soft red and pale green

Sarouk rugs are good quality, with the wool pile clipped short or medium-long. The designs are separated into traditional and American patterns. Traditional designs include the boteh and herati motifs, but the most impressive is the medallion and corner scheme. Early 20th century American designs feature large floral sprays, which radiate out from the central medallion. Ferahan carpets were the finest in west-central Iran in the 19th century, and the name was synonymous with the herati pattern (a rhomboid surrounded by four small fishes.

*sourced from 'Carpet Style' by Marty Phillips

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

Rugs From Europe - Scandinavia

Scandinavia has a long tradition of weaving natural homespun flat-weave and shaggy colorful rugs that are necessary in order to cope with the long, dark days of the Scandinavian winter. This is a home or cottage industry, with a continuous tradition over the centuries. It has never died out, but had evolved, particularly during the 20th century, to produce highly modern designs and patterns that are based on ancient motifs.

Rya rugs are double-pile rugs, thick and shaggy, made for warmth in various parts of Scandinavia (especially Finlad), and they may have been inspired by the animal skins that would originally have been used as rugs and coverlets. They date back at least to the 10th century, and were used both as floor coverings and bed covers. They were initially in solid colors, but by the late 18th century, they were being decorated with designs taken from pattern books imported from France and Germany.

The double-weave Scandinavian rugs and pillows from the south of Sweden, known as rolakans, also have a particular boldness in juxtapositions of clear, bright colors, together with that clarity and simplicity of design that is particular to Scandinavia. They were often woven in wide stripes or repeating interlocking triangles, using plain rather than split-weave technique. These rugs use patterns that seem to have survived, more or less unchanged, since Viking times.

*sourced from 'Carpet Style' by Marty Phillips

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

Bokhara Repair

At Rug Ideas, we see new rugs every day that need cleaning, repair or both. But what may surprise people is that we often have other rug stores/dealers as clients who often need repair on their rugs. And when they need a repair they contact us as we have over a half century of expertise in dealing with expert repairs of all types of rugs. Last week one of our rug dealer clients came in with a Bokhara rug that needed some attention. Taker a look below:

As you can see the ends were unraveling which is not only an eyesore but also meant that if it continued it could possibly unravel into the design of the rug. Luckily the owner decided to take action before that happened. We are well known in the community for outstanding repair work and we have a great team of master weavers to repair the myriad of problems that a rug may encounter. He knew the rug would be in good hands with us, and we proceeded with the repairs right away. All the work was done by hand, and the securing of the ends came out great. Take a look below at the results:

This rug is now in great condition; look wise as well as structurally sound. If you have a rug that is doing some unraveling as well, bring it in to Rug Ideas where we can stop the damage and get it back to it's former beauty!

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

From Tents To Palaces

The rugs that now adorn countless homes, offices and even palaces trace their ancestry to nomadic tribes which wandered the desolate lands of Turkey, Iran, and the Caucasus. These nomadic tribesmen who herded sheep used the wool to create monochromatic flat-weave rugs.

As time passed, they began dying the wool with natural dyes and creating simple, geometric patterns. These same, centuries old techniques can still be found in kilims, grain sacks and saddlebags being woven today by people whose lifestyles remain the same as their ancestors.

No one knows when the first tufts of wool were woven in the threads of a carpet to create a raised surface, i.e. pile. Pile rugs have been discovered in tombs and burial sites which date back to the fifth century B.C.. The Pazyryk Carpet discovered by S.I. Redinko, in a frozen tomb in Siberia is now housed in the hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. These early rugs demonstrate many of the same techniques and design in use today.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth century these pile rugs became coveted in Europe, where they were used at table coverings and wall hangings. By the eighteenth century Oriental Rugs had begun to be used as floor coverings. Their popularity has continued to grow, and they can now be found throughout the world.

Sourced from 'The Mystique of Oriental Rugs' by the Oriental Rug Retailers of America

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

Afghanistan - History & Rugs

Afghanistan is an arid and desolate land whose people have lived in turmoil for centuries, was ruled by the British from the seventeenth century through the mid twentieth century. The British rule was replaced by King Mohammed Zaher who rules until the Russian invasion forced his exile. Meeting with great resistance the Russians left, leaving Afghanistan with further turmoil caused by the Taliban. The Afghan people come from a tribal background where they learned to be prolific rug weavers; the art of weaving being passed down from mother to daughter.

Rugs from Afghanistan tend to be quite stylized with a limited number of colors. The Afghan guls and the Ersari are similar to the "Bokhara" in pattern and color and are the basis for most Afghanistan rugs. Another popular type is the Belouch, which are primarily made by nomadic tribesmen. The Belouch weavers are particularly fond of prayer rugs in dark colors and primarily utilize geometric patterns.

Many rugs are made by Afghan refugees living in Pakistan, on the "New Frontier" along the Afghanistan border around Pesharar. Some of these rugs contain traditionally Afghan designs. However the Caucasian and Persian designs woven there are very popular with today's decorating trends.

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

Bokhara Rug Reweaving

A nice Bokhara rug was brought in by a customer for a deep cleaning; it definitely needed it as the rug had not been cleaned in about 3 years. While we were inspecting the rug a noticeable blemish jumped out at us... a chunk was torn off one of the ends of the rug. Take a look below:

We had 2 options for our customer: One was to go as deep as the damage and secure the rug straight across (which would go into the design a bit) or we could do a reweave of the area (which is more costly but would bring the rug back to its original condition). The owner had this rug in their possession for about 15 years and it meant a lot to them, so they decided to do the reweaving to bring the rug back to life. We first secured the rug at the tear to prevent any further damage during the cleaning. Take a look:

After the cleaning was complete the rug was now clean, sanitized and deodorized. We had our master weaver work on the rug and the results speak for themselves. Take a look at the cleaned, rewoven rug below:

The cleaning and reweave have brought this rug new life and the owner was extremely happy with how everything turned out. We were happy to return this piece of art in such great condition; if you have a rug that is dirty or damaged bring it in to Rug Ideas so we can help in the rejuvenating process that we have been experts at for more than half a decade!

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

Chinese Silk Rug - Fringe Repair

A beautiful Chinese Silk Rug came in last week, brought by its owner who had a small problem they hoped we could fix. The rug was clean and in great shape but part of the fringes had been frayed/lost. They were not sure if it was because of vacuuming or because of wear and tear but it had become very unsightly to the owner who otherwise had a perfect silk rug. Take a look below:

The owner wanted to have the missing fringes restored; we were more than happy to oblige her. We had one of our master weavers start work right away. When the owner came to pick up her rug she was so happy! Take a look at the results:

This work of art is now back in perfect condition and the owner could not be happier. No matter how delicate the job, we at Rug Ideas can help you figure out how best to attack whatever rug problem you may have. Come in to our showroom so we can help you today!

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)

Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)

www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com

www.RugIdea.com

Tel. 310-770-9085

Kyrgyzstan Rug - Reweaving Magic/Securing

A wife came in a few weeks ago distraught because her new dog chewed on a very special rug of her husbands, leaving in tattered in many places. Take a look below:

After calming the wife down we stepped her through what options were available. The best way to bring this rug back to its original shape was to do reweaving on all the spots that had been eaten away; and this is exactly what she opted for. We let our one of our master weavers start on the job and in just a couple weeks we had results that would totally astonish the owner. Take a look at the results below:

As you can see all the bitten off pieces have been rewoven beautifully and the ends were secured to make the foundation even stronger. Our customer was absolutely thrilled; we later found out that the husband had exactly the same sentiments. If you have a rug that has been tattered/torn bring it in to Rug Ideas so we can help you with options to bring back its vibrancy and life!

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
www.RugIdea.com
Tel. 310-770-9085

Rug Weaving or Repair: Which One Is Tougher?

Rug weaving is a very tough job and requires a lot of patience. Rug repair on the other hand needs a lot of expertise and patience as well. The rug weaver only makes a similar type of rug with the same weaving technique each time he/she wants to make a rug. The repair man/woman should be familiar with all the techniques and should be able to match the weave, design and color of each rug to be repaired.


Khosrow Sobhe
www.RugIdea.com
310-770-9085