All Posts in: Oriental Rugs Today

• Pakistani Rugs: Afghan Weavers in Pakistan

  04.15.08 | Comment?

  A finely-knotted Pakistani Aryana rug from Yayla tribal rugs.

  Some of the best new oriental rugs are being made in Pakistan by Afghan refugees.
  The path for the rug renaissance in Pakistan was paved by Afghanistan’s tragic civil war and the subsequent flood of Afghan refugees into neighboring Pakistan. More than a million Afghans sought refuge […]

• Pakistani Rugs: The “Pakistani Persian” Rug

  03.14.08 | 5 Comments

  A Pakistani ‘Persian’, meaning a Pakistani rug in a Persian style.

  In the late 1970s, Pakistani rugmakers came up with a new product, known in the trade as the Pakistani Persian or the Pakistani 16/18, which is still made. As the second name implies, the knot-count of these rugs is a nominal 16 by 18 per […]

• Pakistani Bokhara Rugs (Bokara or Bukhara)

  03.07.08 | Comment?

  Bokharas are a type of handmade Pakistani rug; also known as Bukharas or Bokaras, they predate the rug renaissance.

  A typical Pakistani Bhokara, although red is a more common color.

  Though Pakistani Bokharas are scorned by collectors, they have turned out to be honest rugs. Most are based on Turkmen prototypes called Tekkes, with repeating octagonal […]

• Pakistani Rugs and Carpets

  03.06.08 | Comment?

  In 1977, a rug dealer and writer named Georges Izmidlian wrote: ‘In countries where an informed body of opinion has grown up on the subject of oriental rugs, a distinction is drawn between those from Persia, Turkey, Afghanistan and Russia, and those from other areas which produce similar goods. Only the former are entitled to […]

• Tibetan Rugs, Rugs from Nepal

  02.17.08 | 1 Comment

  Tibetan rugs are now some of the brightest stars in the oriental rug market. Just twenty-five years ago things could not have been more different. Here’s the story.
  In 1949 the Chinese invaded Tibet, and inadvertently changed the modern history of Oriental carpets. Before then, Tibetans made rugs for their own uses, which often involved religious […]

• Turkish Rugs: Buying Rugs in Turkey

  01.30.08 | 10 Comments

  Photo by Christiaan Briggs.

  Oriental Rugs Today: Chapter 4 Part 4
  Of all the rug-weaving countries in the world, Turkey may be the most fun for travelers looking to buy. Rugs and carpets have been made there for centuries, so travelers find rugs of all ages in the Turkish bazaars and a huge assortment of them from […]

• Turkish Rugs: Anadol, I.M. International and the Rest

  01.29.08 | 2 Comments

  Oriental Rugs Today: Chapter 4 Part 3. See the posts on Woven Legends and the DOBAG project for more about those productions.

  A gorgeous Turkish rug from Anadol with natural dyes and handspun wool pile.

  One of the earliest and best productions from Turkey was created by a Turkish gentleman named Suat Izmirili, who established Anadol Oriental […]

• Turkish Rugs: Woven Legends

  01.22.08 | 2 Comments

  Early Turkish Azeri from Woven Legends. The Weavers were given plenty of latitude to improvise, so something of the weavers’ personalities is visible. If it were not for that, this carpet may well have come off feeling very stiff and rigid.

  Oriental Rugs Today: Chapter 4 Part 2
  DOBAG was the start of the Oriental rug renaissance, […]

• Turkish Rugs: The DOBAG Project

  01.16.08 | 1 Comment

  Oriental Rugs Today: Chapter 4 Part 1
  The undisputed first mover of the renaissance of Oriental rugs was a German chemist named Harald Bohmer. In 1960 he took a seven-year teaching job in Turkey and, like many Westerners before and since, fell in love with Turkish rugs. He was different, though, in being especially interested in […]

• Western Influences on Oriental Rugs

  01.14.08 | Comment?

  Oriental Rugs Today: Introduction to Part 2 (Rugs by Region)

  Turkmen rug dealers and friends in Islamabad, Pakistan, 1989.

  The following chapters are comprised of discussions and critiques of new Oriental rugs found in the market today, country by country. Stories of a few of the movers and shakers behind them are interspersed. These are interesting people […]