Contact Information

Area & Oriental Rugs

The terms “area” and “oriental” are sometimes used interchangeably today but there is a difference between area and oriental rugs. Just because a rug is made of wool does not make it a true oriental rug.

Oriental rugs, by definition, are rugs manufactured in the East. The East includes a wide area from China to Central Europe. Some of the major rug manufacturing countries are India, China, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey. Rugs from different countries have different characteristics based on the dye selection and weaving methods used in that country. Oriental rugs can be classified into two major categories – pile rugs and flat woven rugs.

Pile Rugs
Pile rugs have knots that are tied to a foundation and then sheared to create the pile. Wool and silk are the most commonly used pile fibers, while cotton, wool and silk are used for the foundation material.

Flat Woven Rugs
Flat woven rugs are also called killims, kelims, dhurries (cotton face), druggets (wool face), Navajo, palas, etc. They are similar to a tapestry fabric, are reversible and provide excellent wear and durability.

Below are a few types of Area rugs

Hooked Rugs
The name comes from the needle or hook that is used to pull the face yarns through a backing material. These rugs generally have a dark central design, followed by a light area and then a dark border.

Braided Rugs
These rugs have an oval (sometimes round) shape. They can be hand made or machine made by sewing together long braids of yarn. They are reversible and come in a wide range of price and quality. Braids used in braided rugs can be made from strips of fabric either with or without a stuffing material inside, or yarns can be braided together around a stuffing material.

Flokati Rugs
These rugs are made in Greece with 100% wool fibers. The pile fibers in these rugs are about 5 inches long (similar to shag carpets). The Rya type Flokati rugs have rings of color – light color in the center of the ring and darker colors towards the edges.

Machine Made Rugs
These are imitations of oriental rugs made with wool fibers on jacquard looms. Some popular manufacturers are Karastan and Adoros.

In addition to these machine made wool rugs, inexpensive rugs made of polypropylene (Olefin) fibers are also commonly available today.

Call us to schedule your rug cleaning today. 901-754-6648