As I write this article on carpets, I am watching the snow falling outside and thinking that Aladdin’s magic carpet could come in handy!
Well, I can wish – and I can also tell you that the value of Eastern rugs is currently buoyant and they make an ideal covering for waxed and polished hardwood or stone flooring, which is so trendy at the moment. For millennia, rugs and carpets have been used throughout the world to turn any type of abode, no matter how grand or humble, into a home. The original concept was to provide warmth, comfort – and also for decorative purposes, of course. It is not known exactly when people started making rugs. However, there is evidence that ancient nomadic tribes facing extreme cold began to weave reeds and grasses together as a means of separating themselves from the chilly floor. The practice as we know it today, namely the interweaving of wool and other animal fibres together to create floor and wall coverings, began in Central Asia over 5,000 years ago, with the oldest existing example, the Pazyryk Carpet, found in astoundingly good condition in Siberia in 1949, dating to around 500 BC. It was the Persians who perfected the manufacture of these pieces, elevating them from purely functional pieces to emblems of prestige and power, through the use of precious metals and gems in finely-woven carpets…