The Turkish Carpet Company

Restoration and stabilization of old rugs is an art form !

Paul — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:38:20 +0000

Beauty ! This is a project which just had to be done. I have had this fragmented old Caucasian rug for a long time. It was not until recently that I realized its importance in my life, with the arrival of a much younger Caucasian Moghan rug, which is gorgeous and has fantastic colors and is in exceptional condition for its age but stacked up against the old retainer from more than a century earlier, it doesnt stack up. I’ll reference it by photograph when I eventually list it on my site. What is still astounding to me, is the range of colours available to weavers several 100 years ago, before the advent of aniline dye. They used walnuts, madder root, euphorbia, dye extracted from insects, tabacco leaves, rhubarb leaves and a whole lot more in combinations to produce such startling colour palettes. Aside from that, this rug has stood the test of time, and at this juncture in its life we are prolonging its existence. So what are we doing to it. it is basically being married to a backing cloth of a kind of hemp/hessian which doesn’t mar the rug’s detail. Sympathetically sewn using invisible threads to close the portions which have holes, but only in keeping with this rugs characteristics. let me tell you this is 100′s of hours of restoration, which is no match for the 5-6 months of 10 hours weaving per day to originally create this masterpiece. We hope it will one day win the heart of a true believer in antique beauty from a bygone age.

Persian, Caucasian a blend or just a unique cultural amalgam.

Paul — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:32:37 +0000

Karaja Eagle Rug

Its only recently that I discovered that Persian rugs actually interest me. Hitherto now I was of the opinion that yes they could be fine sought after masterpieces, but they didn’t float my boat, as it were, tribal rugs have much more appeal, for their raw energy that they exuded. But, with the acquisition of this piece I have had to re-evaluate my position somewhat. What say ? Well, its complicated, I have always been an “all wool” man, attracted to pieces which are made from just wool, and not cotton foundation and wool compositions as are so many Persian rugs. That is not to say that I misunderstand why cotton is used as a foundation for a carpet, it is a marvelous stabilizing substance, unlike all wool which tends to stretch over time. But, now I can actually see it in this particular rug. The 7-strand cotton warps hold this baby on the straight and narrow. The taughtness of the pile weave is held firmly in check by the cotton and keeps the integrity of this rug, probably more than 100 years old, firmly in check. So, what happened here, why is this rug so similar to an Azeri Caucasian Karabagh Chelaberd rug, also called Sunburst or Eagle motif ? Well, it was made by people who came from the same region, but were displaced. The Russians displaced many of the ethnic Muslim tribes from the central and southern Caucasus during their reign, so many Muslim peoples were moved south into Persia (now Iran) to escape persecution. They settled not far from where they used to reside, however now in Persian Azerbaijan, they brought with them their cultural heritage. And, they assimilated some practices from their new homeland, for instance the use of cotton as a base for a rug. Here is one such result of that cultural amalgam, the same Sunburst main medallion, the same or similar randomly scattered motifs, and a beautiful Dragon Shield border, just as if it were a Caucasian Karabagh Chelaberd rug. Its mesmerizing to find such, and has made me re-assess my almost distain for Persian rugs and carpets. What do you think, let me know.

Fusion – The art of marrying a Rug to a purpose built wall mount.

Paul — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:27:51 +0000

So what are we up to, well this is certainly something different, Fusion, the art of taking separate elements and melding them into one harmonious piece, that is what we are up too. This is new in the rug world. We took this small Semi-Antique 20′th century Taimani tribal rug circa. early 1940′s which was woven with 100% natural dyed Ghilzai wool, and mounted it on a custom designed wall mounting made of hardwood with copper, which has been specially worked on to produce a sympathetic patina similar to that of the rug. This small Chahar Aimaq Taimani tribal rug, probably hailed from the west-central plains of Afghanistan, particularly the province of Ghor.The Taimani tribe is noted for its extensive use of blue dyes in their weaving’s. We designed this wall mounting specially for this rug, and had it commissioned by a renowned Portland artist. It has gallery grade mounting hardware and cable to support it upon whichever surface you choose for display.The rug is attached to the wall mount with industrial grade Velcro and secured to the wood part of the wall mount with upholstery nails. This is a piece of artwork which is ready to be displayed in your home or company boardroom. Please check back to our Store often, as we will be listing dozens of similar pieces, this is just one of many, at all different price points. We are the first company to actively market our rugs complete with a designer crafted sympathetic wall mount, we even supply you with the nail, these pieces art are 100% ready to be displayed in pride of place.

Antique Turkish “Byzantine Greek Orthodox” Zile Yahyali Rug

Paul — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 14:45:05 +0000

This is an interesting subject that I have personally only recently researched to find out more information on. To start with a little history lesson, I’ll be brief; for nearly 2000 years there were Byzantine Greek orthodox christians living in Anatolia. This real estate we know of today as Turkey, has only been that for the last 90 years or so, prior to that it was owned by the Romans, Tartars(Alexander the Great), Selcuks, Ottomans, Greeks and then finally in 1922 became the Turkish Republic.

In essence until the 1914-1922 displacement of Greek populations from Anatolia to Greece and Turkish from Greece to Turkey, the Ottomans governed both peoples in Anatolia, even handedly, even though 1 people were Christian and the other Muslim. Yes, they lived seperately but they cohabited nicely without genocidal violence, until the end of the First World War, which occasioned the Turkish wars of independance from Greek rule and eventually the Republic of Turkey was born. Both sides carried out monsterous atrocities against each other and the Armenians.

So, history lesson over, its way more complex than this but lets get back to rugs. Now, this rug is from the village of Yahyali (Greek Yahyali) made by Greek weavers who took Anatolian weaving techniques and embelished them with their own motifs, dying practices and skillful workmanship and produced such beauties as this Zile Yahyali, for that is what they are called. There were also 2 Kayseris, 1 Greek 1 Ottoman, and a rug I will be soon displaying is one such. This Zile Yahyali is old, between 100-120 years old, and yet in absolutely superb condition, the knotting very fine, the sides (selvages) very intact, pile is low but uniformly even and best of all the 100% vegetable dyed wool is still vibrant and alive, with even some abrash. The motifs are gorgeous, and complex and quite different from an Ottoman Yahyali rug. Feast your eyes upon this one because this is a very, very rare specimen.

The Birth of rughunter.us

Paul — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:46:27 +0000

Let me introduce you to a new concept. For many people trying to find a hand-made Oriental rug which suits their decor, is aesthetically pleasing and doesn’t break the bank is a challenge. You can visit stores, speciality Oriental rug emporiums or visit sites like mine online and continue searching, until now!

www.rughunter.us is a new concept, where we put you in the driving seat and we do all of the hard work. I have already been doing this with a few clients, with great success. Here is how it works, if you know the colors you want, the type of design, perhaps type ie. Persian Tabriz or Turkish Milas Prayer Rug, size and of course crucially budget. Then I task my people around Asia Minor, who already do a similar job for me alone, with finding such a rug or a few examples. Once they have these they photograph then and send the photos to me, and I pass them onto you. Perhaps there are 4 examples and you really like one of them. I ship the rug to me, inspect and sometimes clean it, check it all to make sure it is defect free and then I ship it to you, you have a week to decide, if you like it you keep it and pay me the agreed upon price, everyone is happy, and I move onto the next clients needs. Email me at paul@rughunter.us for more details.

Rug Cleaning 101

Paul — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 11:57:46 +0000

Well no mystery to this. It doesn’t matter if your rug is made from wool, a mix or silk, basically just treat it gently. So I use a mixture of a product called Orvus paste which I mix in a bucket about 1 tablespoon of Orvus to 1 gallon of fresh room temperature water. Orvus is actually a product used to wash and gloss horses coats.

Then I wet the rug, or kilim thoroughly, and then sprinkle onto it some of the Orvus shampoo. I use a brush with fairly stiff fibres, work it back and forth until it generates a lot of foam, work it into the fibres to loosen any dirt. Then, use a hose with a good bit of pressure to force out the dirt, grime and particulate matter, work from one end to the other with the nap if it’s a rug. I do this on my wood deck, which works well to sluice away the water.

Turn over and do the same on the reverse side of the rug or kilim. Then I hang it over my deck railing and continue hosing it down until all vestiges of the shampoo have gone. Now its the turn of the sun and wind. Try and do this on a dry day, you’ll get a better result. It does take hours, so I generally do a bunch of rugs in the early morning and give them the whole day to drip dry. Hours later, your rug will still be damp, kilims may well have dried out already. So, an easy way to dry it is over a tressle of some kind, preferably inside and in a warm environment, or artificially accelerate the process by introducing a warm air fan heater playing gently back and forth.

24 hours later your rug will be dry, but perhaps a bit stiff, if it’s wool. Just use a hand vac with revolving brushes to run up and down the fibers and you will bring them to life again. The end result, a clean and vibrant rug or kilim again. Just a word to the wise, if your rug is not naturally dyed, it’s possible the colours will run, but they will only do this if they are left “wet” for any length of time, so guard against this. Stubborn stains can be attacked with a product called Genesis 950 it’ll basically take out almost any stain, including old paint in the fibers, but be careful with it. Finally, to make your rug shiny again, take some distilled white vinegar and mix a 50/50 solution with water, use a small sponge to gently rug some of the solution over the fibers, the end result will be fantastic, I guarantee it ! Happy rug cleaning everyone !

Turkish Prayer Rugs: Kula and Ghiordes

Paul — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:22:39 +0000

Here is my dilemma with this rug, is this rug attributable to Ghiordes or Kula? There are so many interesting aspects to this rug that I can identify, just through the photographs I have. There is always a tussel between experts about whether a rug is a Gordes (would have 2 dots over the o to make it a Turkish word) or a Kula, as the crow flies its 33 miles distance between them, so these 2 centres of weaving are close, as incidentally are most Anatolian weaving “villages”. So what is the main difference between them, in actuality none, save one. And, that is the contruction, cotton is used by weaver rather than wool for one aspect, often only in the warp, which are the threads which horizontally form the foundation of a rug, cotton gives more stability and less flexation, what does this give .. a deal less flex and therefore in, for instance if its a long rug better integrity in its length. The whole damm issue is about cotton, is the foundation cotton, that I do not know now, but I will when I get my mitts on it. Until then is a small mystery …. I’ll follow up. Here is the follow up … this is a Ghiordes!

Caucasian Kazak Rugs: Fachralo Kazak

Paul — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 18:17:58 +0000

It’s been an age since I had the time to Blog, and during that time stuff happened, not the least of which was breaking both my ankles last November. Anyway, I want to talk about Caucasian rugs, there are books and books available as reference material, but where do you go when you are having a hard time identifying something?

I had such a problem with a Karabagh Boteh Runner I had, thankfully a new friend in Baku, Azerbaijan gave me me some great observations on not only that but the rug I am displaying, which is a wonderful and fairly rare octagonal medallion Fachralo Kazak rug. So whats different about this rug? Well for a start its old, at least 100 years old and in exceptional condition. Its a Fachralo, but not the usual, but then the rules are always being broken by Caucasian rugs, a wealth of outside influences and intermingling of Tribes, religions and ancient traditions make this a constant. It has the signature trademark of a “T-Meander” border, with the incorporation of a Shirvan stripe also, but many more things add up, my ebay listing for this rug describes its hallmarks and points towards other references in verification of my observations. as if I needed any, I was pointed in the exact direction by my expert friend in Baku. There is a huge market for Caucasian rugs in the USA, possibly unrequitable, however the source is not inexhaustible. Although, there is a reassurgence in traditional rug making, just as in Turkey with the DOBAG project. Caucasian rugs are tricky to identify because there are so many influences in their birth. Persian, Turkish, Armenian, Turkoman, Afshari and other tribes, so much so the close identifying of a rug invloves sleuthing worthy of Perry Mason. There are always clues to point the avic rughead in the right direction, or wrong direction for that matter. Here are but a few, design and motifs, size, materials ie. all wool, cotton and wool, shoots of wool, 1, 2 or 3, coloration of wool, knot count, type of knot Turkish or Persian, warp and weft, depressed or straight and even down to how the wool was spun. As much as I know now, another 100 years would only scratch the surface of this fascinating world of rug and carpet weaving. In March I am off to Istanbul, Ushak and Konya on a buying trip and hopefully also incorporating a few days in Baku, Azerbaijan. Watch this space, I hope to regale you with some incredible new rug finds in the next few months.

Dun Roaming!

Paul — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 11:52:08 +0000

It is quite poignant at the moment for me to write about this specific subject, in a word “moving”. I was quite shocked to find out about a friend of mine moving out of my neighbourhood, well somewhat ! Of course, I wish my friend well, she deserves that and a whole lot more. Articulating this, is, well some what difficile for me. Honestly, from personal experience, its an epic of Hollywood proportions to even begin to chart my own cartwheeling around this globe.

So I will not belabour particularly my angst, just to bring some highlights ! How about this, the English Army in its absolute stupidity, sent me from Cyprus to Germany and within 6 weeks turned me around and reposted me back to Cyprus. Enough of the English Army, I have no respect, it is governed by imbeciles and its Officer Corps are basically incompetant nincompoops. Now, back to moving, I have several times moved across Oceans. This many not be a lexicon, however in word it it is a phraseology to live to move by. For instance, did you use this in the last 6 months, has it sat for years in your loft, is it clogging your garage up, do you even know what this is ? Has it got cobwebbs on it ? In your freezer does it say “July 2005 ?” and more. All of the above suggests its time to repatriate those things to the “dump”. Its a great time to downsize. From a personal viewpoint, I lived for 2 years with only one seabag full of everything I needed, it was all I possessed in my Ocean skippering travels, and salutory it was. I actually loved it, quite liberating. In order for something new to be acquired, an unnecessary thing had to be disposed of, it was simple ergonomics, that was the rule and it worked. But, In this life there is a drive to surround ourselves with things we really do not need. Supposedly to make us happy and fulfilled. I purpose that they do not do that. Fundamentally and instead, I suggest, focus on what you really have, not intangibles, or even perhaps others dreams. Live for number one today; its actually OK, not having to live the vicarious media driven needs of others. And so, what is the point of this dialogue, for me its this; only your heart has within it what is required to sustain you alone. All else is transitory and actually nothing more than garbage to be consigned to the landfill of current human existance ……. Moving positively forward, having a goal and being true to yourself, will sustain anyone. I guarantee it. I know because I have been all of the above. And, as a final word, if you can’t downsize, then you had better get a big U-Hawl Truck ……. because you will need one for both physical and non-physical baggage !

Caucasian Daghestani Rugs

Paul — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 18:16:50 +0000

Caucasian rugs have been imported into the United States for a very long time, perhaps as much as 150 years. Principally brought by immigrant refugees from Amenian/Georgia/Azerbaijan/Dagestan, four countries/provinces which abutt each other and which were and are prolific carpet weaving regions close to both the Black and Caspian seas.

Certainly borders are blended by the peoples who live throughout this region through intermingling, but there are defininate weaving styles, characteristics and motifs which are readily identifiable even down to individual villages. This particular rug is an antique from Daghestan, Russia, which is in extraordinary condition for its age, around 1890 or so. Walter E. Hawley’s treatise originally published in 1913 entitled Oriental Rugs Antique and Modern has a whole chapter dedicated to these rugs, let me leave you with his opening comment; “In no part of Caucasia have better rugs been woven than in Daghestan”. Provenance of any rug is and can be somewhat problematic, in this case Hawley has more than adequately explained the attributes of rugs such as this. He is not alone, another great writer and descriptor, Italian Fabio Formenton has a greatly descriptive book, Oriental Rugs and Carpets, also with a chapter on Daghestan which is fascinating. All of these learned works are both great teaching tools and captivating reading for us “rug heads”, but all aside and inclusive of all I have learned through the years of being fascinated by rugs, there is one overriding principle I live by and that is to not just buy a rug because it is either valuable or an investment for the future, my number one criterion is you gotta love it first !