One of the great things about our Oriental Rug Blog has been the tremendous response we’ve gotten from readers. It’s clear that people have many questions about Oriental rugs and we’re happy to do our best to answer them.

We get loads of emails asking questions about specific rugs. Richard has dutifully sent out dozens (hundreds?) of detailed responses to these questions, which is great. But wouldn’t it be better if we could all benefit from his expertise?

We hope this will be possible with the new Ask the Rug Experts section of our blog. Here’s how it will work:

If you have a question about a rug you own, go ahead and email us at expert@internetrugs.com with the subject “ask the experts”. Be sure to include at least one photo of the rug. We’ll post your question along with our answer on the blog.

Those of you who know Emmett are aware that he is an avid writer as well as businessman and rug expert.

In addition to his Oriental rug book, Emmett and his wife Natasha co-authored the novel The Last Resort, published in 2004.

Well, all of us rug lovers are in for a treat. Emmett has been writing a new novel which unites his love of fiction with his passion for Oriental rugs. The first three chapters of Emmett’s new novel have just been published on our website, with more to come soon.

When a Dragon Winks is a celebration of Oriental rugs and a good laugh at the many who fatten themselves off them. It is a cat-and-mouse game of “Find the Fake Rug,” and it is a question of aesthetics: Can a forgery be a work of art?

Starting today, we’ll be posting a daily rug deal on the website.

There will be a new Oriental rug featured every day, at a very deep discount. This very special price applies for one day only.

You’ll want to check back often to see what great bargains pop up!

Happy rug shopping!

The Turkish knot is symmetrical and the Persian knot is asymmetrical, as shown in this diagram.

The two types of knots most commonly used to make hand knotted oriental rugs are the so-called Persian knot and Turkish knot.

On the loom, long warp strands (often cotton) run vertically from top to bottom. Onto this base the weaver ties pieces of spun, dyed wool in horizontal rows across the loom. Warp-like strands called wefts are woven horizontally across the warp between rows of knots.

The Turkish knot is a symmetrical knot sometimes referred to as the Ghiordes or Gordes knot. The Persian knot is an asymmetrical knot that also goes by the name Senneh knot.

What’s especially confusing is that some Turkish rugs are woven with the Persian knot, and vice-versa. It might be easier to remember the two knots as symmetrical and asymmetrical, and these terms are increasingly used in the oriental rug world.

You can read Emmett’s rug book, which focuses on new Oriental rugs, here on the Oriental Rug Blog. Or you can spring for a hard copy and enjoy the beautiful color prints as they were meant to be seen. Give us a call at 1-888-811-RUGS to order a copy. It’s also available at Amazon.

Here are other comprehensive rugs books about Oriental carpets, though you should note that, like most rug books, the ones I’ve cited focus on antique rugs.

…continue reading Rug Books we recommend

Which are the best rugs made today — Egyptian rugs? Persian rugs? Turkish rugs, Afghan rugs, Chinese rugs? Pakistani rugs, Tibetan rugs, Indian rugs…?

In case you have wondered who makes the best rugs — and many people ask me this — here is your last chance to find out. But of course I won’t tell you — because there simply is no best rug or rug-producing country.

Here’s what I will say, though: There are no rugs in the world more “decorative” than the best rugs from Egypt. They can look good in a room where no other rugs in the world will do. When my wife and I staged a house to sell, and hundreds of thousands of dollars were at stake, we used Egyptian carpets.

Persian rugs, on the other hand, have an enviable heritage. There is magic in the best Persian rugs, and a hundred years from now collectors are likely to value today’s rugs from Iran above all others.

…continue reading Which country makes the best rugs?

The tent band poster with our old address

In about January of 1982, a rug dealer from Kabul, Afghanistan, whom I shall call Abdul, walked into my shop in Berkeley, unannounced and very welcome. Like many of my fellow American travelers to Afghanistan I have bought rugs from Abdul for resale here in the States.

Since he is a decent (and nearly English-speaking) man, the trick has always been to remember to be tough with him about prices. He, goodness knows, is not guided by sentiment. In 1974 Abdul and I and two others took a taxi from Kabul to the north, into Mazar and Tashkargan and Aqsha and Shibergan. Later I sent 8 by 10 color photos of the trip to him, and I believe I made a friend for life.

…continue reading Russian Socks, From Tent Band to Bokhara

In 1913, G. Griffin Lewis wrote that rug-making in the Middle East was just about finished. At an average of about $2.50 per square foot, oriental rugs had priced themselves out of the market. The end was in sight.

It is true that the rug industry in the Middle East had been staggered by the West’s reaction to aniline dyes and then by World War I, when demand for oriental rugs nearly disappeared. When the industry recovered, it was belted by the Great Depression. It struggled to its feet and was hit by World War II. Demand from the West fell out from beneath the market in each of these crises and then again when America discovered the wall-to-wall carpet.

But there is a strange vitality to the rug market. When all else fails, says A. Cecil Edwards, the Persians (and others) turn to rug making. Merchants look for opportunities; weavers look to making a living.

So rugs keep being made. I take joy in the thought that the history of oriental rugs just keeps rolling along, bigger than all of us. In the world there may be 10,000 rug dealers and scholars and serious collectors while there are perhaps 80,000 people engaged in making oriental rugs. With or without the dealers and scholars and collectors, rugs will keep getting made.

Don’t miss Emmett Eiland’s 39th Storewide Anniversary Sale! We have but one storewide sale a year, and this is it.

Thirty-nine years in business? It hardly seems possible. It’s true, though. During September, we will celebrate with a storewide sale. Everything for sale at Emmett Eiland’s will be on sale: Every rug, carpet, kilim, saddle bag, tent band, book … every antique rug, all new rugs with natural dyes, all new arrivals, everything!

These special sale prices (generally 10-15% the prices shown on this website) will apply both to in-store purchases and internet orders. Give us a call at 1-888-811-RUGS to order your dream rug at a bargain price!

Remember that you can have rugs sent free for a trial period in your home. If the rug doesn’t work for you, you’re under no obligation to buy.

Start browsing now or search by size, price, etc.

Yurts are the ancient invention of nomadic tribes that live in Central Anatolia in the West and stretch to the furthest reaches of Mongolia in the East. Yurts are far more substantial than the tents of most nomadic peoples.

Made from poplar poles and warm felts and held together by tent bands that circumscribe the tent like the staves of a barrel, a yurt can weigh a full two thousand pounds. Sill, a yurt can be broken down in a few hours, transported by two camels, and re-assembled (usually by women) in a half day.

our Turkmen yurt

After spending nights in yurts in Bamyan (before the Taliban destroyed the gigantic Buddhas there) and Mazar-i-Sharif, Emmett and Natasha Eiland imported an authentic Turkmen yurt from northern Afghanistan in the early 1980s.

This yurt was once the home of a Turkmen family living near Adqoi, and it came furnished with tent bands, straps and various felts and bags. Over the years it has been displayed in the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and in several other Bay Area venues in connection with exhibitions of Oriental rugs. In addition, from time to time it has been exhibited at Emmett Eiland’s Oriental Rug Company in Berkeley.

the view from inside the Turkmen yurt

There is something strangely peaceful about time spent in a yurt. Its walls wrap so comfortably around. As you gaze at the stars through its open top, it is almost impossible not to imagine yourself living in the time of Marco Polo or Genghis Khan.