Oriental Rugs

Although some furniture stores, DIY outlets and even carpet shops may use the term 'Oriental rug' as a generic term to describe nearly any variety of patterned carpeting, a genuine Oriental rug is a piled or flatwoven fabric, hand-knotted in one of the traditional weaving areas of the Middle or Far East, such as Afghanistan, Tibet, China, Iran, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Morocco, Egypt or Turkey.

A skilled weaver can tie about 6,000 knots per day; a standard quality (60 knots per square inch) rug takes one and a half days to complete each square foot and 5 months to complete a 9x12 foot carpet. A rug of the same size made using 180 knots per square inch contains nearly 2.8 million knots and can take 15 and a half months to make.