Rugs, from the practical to an art form
By Madeleine Adams Millington-Adams Interiors

"I just sit here and look at the rug."

This was the recent remark of a client as we were completing the final details of her family room refurbishment, and it was by no means the first time that I had been assured of the exceptional pleasure that a hand-knotted rug can bring to its owners.

It is little wonder, since its origins are distant and its history long, dating to the 5th Century B.C., when eastern nomadic tribes needed to provide ground cover for themselves as they moved from place to place.

These early pieces were woven from the roughly spun yarns of goats and sheep, and displayed spirited, primitive patterns in dark reds and blues which were extracted from berries.

With the emergence of agricultural settlements, village workshops were established to create practical pieces for home use or bridal gifts, and as patterns, yarns and dyes, became more refined, word of these impressive pieces reached the wealthy courts of eastern cities, where master weavers were appointed to create even more exquisite works of art. Using fine threads of wool, angora, silk, cashmere, silver and gold, and dyes extracted from plants such as crocus, saffron, pomegranate skins, vine leaves, tobacco and tea, they conveyed sensations of fertility, continuity and paradise through the depiction of birds, fruits, flowers, foliage, animals and trees.

Even today, the same tools and techniques are applied, and a rug of such intricacy can take as many as five years to complete.

Buying Tips

A hand-knotted pure wool rug is one of the most organic and lasting items you can buy, and its density and inherent natural oils offer far more protection than we imagine.

If a rug is truly handknotted, the underside will be exposed, allowing you to see the number of knots that have been applied.

If you fold the corner of a rug under to meet the back, you should see very little space between each knot. This is the sign of a densely woven piece, but it will still have a soft and malleable hand.

An unevenness of length and colour of yarn is to be expected.

Remember, it is a hand-made piece of art.

Ask your dealer to fully lay out a favoured rug so that you can appreciate the entire pattern.

Walk around it so that you can see the change in shading from one end to the other. This is due to the direction in which the yarns have been knotted, and is particularly evident where silk has been used.

Ensure that you take any piece of interest home on approval, since the light in the store may have a different influence.

If you opt for the rug you are looking at in different size, the scale of pattern will change, and this may alter the balance of colour.

The denser the rug, the finer the pattern, the higher the price.

If you use a reputable rug dealer, you will get what you pay for, along with their expertise.

Be suspicious of liquidation sales!

The art of creating hand-knotted rugs is diminishing with each generation, which will inevitably be reflected in continued price increases.

When the great houses of the east commissioned a rug to be created, it was assigned to an unfurnished room to impress, to be used for family prayer or to simply invoke a sense of tranquility.

Today, we integrate our rugs into the other components of our homes.

A beautifully designed piece can be an excellent "starting point" to the refurbishment of a room, from which to draw out colour, texture and pattern, or added at the end to bring alive our existing surroundings.

In a dining room, a bordered pattern can "frame" our table, inviting us to share food and good company, and the warm welcome of a "statement piece" in a foyer can set the tone for what is yet to come.

Size

In living areas, the size of a rug can benefit the comfort of a room greatly if it frames the outer edges of the arrangement of furniture.

When placing a rug under a dining table, the size should be large enough to allow the dining chairs to remain on the piece when pushed back, approximately three feet.

Allow a two- to threefoot space beyond a rug for any walkway.

But the true beauty of a rug is the way in which it can enable us to touch an unreachable part of our past, made even more poignant by the heady pace of our lives today. Take the time to enjoy yours.