TECHNIQUE

Understand the craft

A lot goes into making a rug. So here’s a glossary of terms and techniques that will be helpful for you to understand the time and craft that made yours.

WARP & WEFT

WARP

These are the vertical strands in the rug. The Weft is interlaced at a right angle with the Warp to create the rugs you stand on today. The ends of the warp are the fringes on a rug.

Photo: The weaver adjusts the stretched linen warp before starting to weave the AQUARIUS rug.

WEFT

These are the horizontal strands in the rug. The weft tends to make up the bulk of the rug, so the Weft's yarn thickness will determine how soft the rug feels under your feet.

Photo: The weaver passes the wool weft between the warp of the AQUARIUS COAL rug.

WEAVING TECHNIQUES

FLAT WEAVE

Formed by interweaving different coloured wefts and warps. There is no pile for this style of rug. Instead, the yarn is continuously woven back and forth to produce different textures or graphics, depending on the technique.

KILIM WEAVE

A type of flat weave that is thin, tightly woven and often with geometric shapes.

The word Kilim originated from Turkey, and the weaving techniques used to make Kilim are said to come from a variety of regions in parts of Turkey, North Africa, Iran, Afghanistan, and throughout Central & South Asia.