30 Jul Why Choose a Hand-Knotted Rug?

When shopping for a rug, you may hear the terms, “hand-knotted,” “hand-tufted,” or “machine-made.” But what is the difference? You will notice rugs that are hand-knotted cost significantly more than those that are machine made, and for good reason.

HAND-KNOTTED

Hand-knotted rugs require a certain craftsmanship that can take 6 months- years to make. A hand-knotted rug is, quite literally, a work of art. Since they are made by hand and not mass produced, you will never find two exactly alike. Each hand-knotted rug is a unique piece of art. Weavers may spend years of their lives making one rug. They use a specialized loom and insert knots into the rug and tie each strand by hand.

Using wool, silk, or a combination of the two, these rugs are extremely durable. Wool and silk used for hand-knotted rugs are dyed organically. To achieve deep colors, such as red and deep blue, a significant amount of time will be spent dyeing the material. Because of the natural dyes and materials, these rugs can be washed and repaired if anything were to happen. Because hand-knotted rugs are tightly tied, the knots hold the rug together and last for centuries to come. The tighter the knot and amount of knots, as well as the silk to wool ratio, are factors that contribute to the cost of the rug. Hand-knotted rugs do not lose their value. The more you use them and walk on them, the higher their value becomes. A hand-knotted rug will become your family heirloom to pass down for generations.

You can tell a hand-knotted rug by looking at the back of it. The pattern from the front of the rug will also display on the back of the rug. You will never see this with hand-tufted or machine made rugs. Another way to tell is by the fringe on the ends. If a fringe appears to be sown onto a rug, the rug is a machine made. On a hand-knotted rug, the fringe is detrimental to the foundation of the rug.

HAND-TUFTED

A hand-tufted rug is not completely hand made. To build a hand-tufted rug, they shoot pieces of wool through a canvas backing which has the outline of the rug pattern on it. These rugs can be produced in less than a day in comparison to hand-knotted rugs which can take years. The strands are not tied. The canvas with the tufted pieces of wool will have a piece of durable backing glued onto the bottom to hold the tufted material in place. Hand-tufted rugs can be difficult to clean because of this.

MACHINE MADE

Machine made rugs are lower quality rugs that are mass produced in a short amount of time. They have no real value and are replaceable. A higher quality machine made rug may last up to 20 years, at most. Machine made rugs are mostly made of synthetic materials, such as polyester, which limits their lifeline.

These are all factors to consider when shopping for a rug. At Divine Interiors, we have a huge selection of hand-knotted rugs in sizes, 2×3, 4×6, 5×7, 7×9, 8×10, 9×12, 10×14, round rugs of all sizes and MORE! Contact us if you have any questions, or stop into the showroom and we can walk you through the differences in these types of rugs as well as show you our collection!