How to tell a good rug from a cheap one

What distinguishes the Turkish made rugs vs. the Chinese/ Indian/Pakistan copies? Certainly the weaving is not high tech. and could easily be copied. The designs are what they are. That leaves the materials and their quality (wool, dyes).
The Turkish rugs I have seen tend to have a more tribal look with lower knot count, bolder colors and average wool quality.
I own some very fine quality Pakistan and Indian pieces (along with some antique silk Iranian rugs) with Australian wool, silk, high knot counts and intricate designs. I have also seen some very average or poor quality goods from those same countries. I would suggest that quality is not guaranteed based on country of origin, but rather on other factors. As you indicate, know the characteristics that define quality, and know your supplier.

Larry

A valid question, and one that I could write pages about. But lets touch on a few of the high points.

Like most things that are cheaper, the quality of the materials suffers first off. Yarn is nor nearly as good, nor is the knotting. The dyes are off color and not as rich, and most are not hand-woven (they have developed a loom with a long bar that runs the length of the loom that simulates hand-knotting, but one can tell). And like a Ferrari, its the imperfections that make the handmade Turkish rug appealing. When they are too perfect, its machine-made. Note the colors in the rug as well, they should have pop and be dramatic. Poor quality dyes are lifeless and boring. and sometimes you will see a color that doesn't look like it belongs in a rug, like a hot pink. Also note the number of colors in these rugs, some have 30 to 40 different hues in them. Cheap rugs tend to have just four or five colors and no Au Brush. Hand-knotting is also laborious and very time consuming - its slow work. The labor rates in Turkey vs China /Pakistan are not that much different, but the time it takes to make the carpet is due to shortcuts.

When I was in Turkey in August 2012 I spent one entire day looking at rugs, thousands of them from a number of merchants. It's easy to spot the good ones, they have character. Many of the rug stores that cater to tourists don't have the good stock, I went into many stores and in the 9th one I found a decent shop. I get my rugs here in the US from Woven Legends, and Nesliahn Jevremovic (owner) came to the USA when she was 19 years old, and then wound up in the rug business. She's not a broker, she has her own designer and owns the looms in Turkey so every rug that comes out of the villages she owns (good, bad or ugly). She goes over there 6x a year to inspect the looms and keep the training up and is very proud of taking Syrian Refugees and training them to make rugs - she showed me lots of photos on her last trip. I've been buying Woven Legend rugs for 25 years now, and they're made the same way as they did 200 years ago...

These are expensive. You don't buy them as rugs - you buy them as art. They are not for everyman and I don't follow the usual practice of marking them up 2.5 times cost and then bartering on them. Like everything in my store its wholesale plus and the price is the price - they won't go 'on sale'. I get carpets that I like, because that seems to work. I don't buy trendy ones, because over the years I find they hang around a long time. Customers seem to like my taste in rugs, and I just wish they were not so costly, but that's the way it is. You want a Rolex, you have to pay the Rolex price and all that....lol

I spent all afternoon installing these in the store (a lot of work!) Here's photos....for those that appreciate Turkish Carpets - these are all $ 83 a square foot in price. Sorry, I didn't have time to run these photos through Photoshop today and correct the lighting, they are straight out of the camera.

9'0" x 12' 0" : $ 8964 (photos below)

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7c785030.jpg

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...pse09cfee6.jpg


8' 4" x 10' 3" : $ 7,086 (below)

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps765a46a7.jpg

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4c83fe0b.jpg

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...psbf8b296b.jpg

7' 6" x 10' 6" : $ 6,536 (below)

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8de64199.jpg

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...psa3363f34.jpg

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8aeed6c9.jpg

3' 3" x 9' 2" : $ 2,473 (below)

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5ff281a1.jpg

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8dbc08d3.jpg

4' 2" x 10' 6" $ 2,828 (below)

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6054f9bb.jpg

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps99e1b78e.jpg

4' 10" x 7' 7" : $ 3,039 (below)

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...pse656ba95.jpg

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...ps03f3598b.jpg

And the one that I left behind.....I had bust my budget already but it was killing me to not buy this rug as well. Argh! ..... have to mind the inventory dollars......

I am a "ruggie". However if I sell off one in short order, I'll call and have them send this one down. Great colors, lots of pop. 7' 10" x 11' 0" : $ 7,149

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...psf52726fd.jpg

Updated with prices....as per forum member requests

Random question Duane, is everything in those pictures for sale? ie Lighting, and such?

Also how much is this dining set?
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...pse09cfee6.jpg

Absolutely! Everything is for sale that doesn't have a SOLD tag on it, and in the room only the Highboy to the left is sold (its out of the photo frame but you can just see the leg).

That's a Councill # 78-315 table in Walnut, finish 742 (shown with one leaf installed, the other one makes it too large for this 12" x 14" room) that I was able to get a special buy on so this one only will be $ 4,460.

The (6) Chairs around them are Jessica Charles # 1920 Angelique chairs in Hancock & Moore leather Dream Fawn and marked in the store at $ 999 apiece.

Boy, those are some gorgeous rugs.

Slight digression: What is that red-orange couch in the last picture of post #2 above?

[We had previously decided to reupholster our sofa instead of buying new. But then we were quoted a huge price for the fabric we liked, and there was a mix-up about the ordering. I thought we had to wait 10 weeks before they were doing another run of the fabric, and then when it was available again we could order it. But actually, the situation was they required that the order be placed 10 weeks in advance, before they would do the run! I never ordered the fabric, due to my misunderstanding, and as a result we still have the old broken sofa. So something "better" can still come along].

That's a Taylor King Portfolio Special, part of the Design your Own collection. All USA-made, its the one I keep raving about as being the best value I've seen in a long time for a properly made sofa. And its well under $ 2,000 to buy.

What area of Turkey are these rugs from?

Thanks.

Sorry, I don't know the regions on them. If that is critical to a purchase decision, I can find out....

An update to this thread. The founder and owner of Woven Legends, Neslihan Jevremovic, whom I have been doing business with now for over two decades has done something admirable in my mind and I want to share it. We all hear about Syrian refugees and think 'Wow, someone needs to do something for these people' and then we give the Red Cross $ 25 and go on about our daily lives - I'm just as guilty as everyone else on that. Neslihan actually got involved and is making a difference in training Syrian women how to weave the rugs she brings to the USA. People that have a skill have hope, and money to buy food and clothes. Good on her! All the rugs you see in the photos here on this thread are from her company and she taught me everything I know about fine carpets on my many trips to her place in Philadelphia. Well done, Neslihan!

http://www.rugnews.com/ME2/dirmod.as...45E2EEC6467801

To give you an example of very fine handiwork - this a picture I took in a Persian rug store in the United Arab Emirates. In the rug in the background, note the brightness and intensity of the dye, the huge range of colors, and the delicate but yet crisp lines of the patterns. This is not a pure silk rug - it's more interesting than that, the artists used silk for certain details. The effect is that the intricate lines and flowers are highlighted and they shimmer under the light. Now, the "painting" in the middle is also a "rug" - it's hard to call it that because it's not something you'd ever want to step on, but it's woven like one nevertheless. These peices are fine art and only available from a few small villages famous for this level of craftsmanship

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Thanks for the tips, I also find it hard to tell the "bad" rugs apart when buying them for my new apartment.

Duane, your post a couple of days ago about hauling down the wrong carpet for shipment to California (I feel your pain, by the way) piqued my interest and I read many of the posts in this section of the forum.

I’m curious about post #3 in this thread and wonder if you did quickly sell some of the rugs you posted about and were able to order the one you left behind after all? Which is absolutely beautiful, I love the colors in that rug and see exactly why you didn’t want to leave it behind. And I admire your restraint!

That may be too far back to remember, but just curious if one of your lucky customers had a chance to buy that particular carpet.

Thank you, Dennis

We still have four or five Woven Legends rugs left, I am not sure if they are still in business or not - no one answers their phone and their website is dated back to 2016. At one time I was going to their showroom/warehouse in Philadelphia every four to five months and bringing back a dozen rugs each trip. Prices climbed from them as Turkey became more affluent and then Pakistan and China started knocking off their rugs at half the price, so the market faded on Woven Legends. We don't exactly "Push" these rugs to clients, they are somewhat covered up by furniture, but are all new, old stock and priced accordingly. They are more vibrant and colorful than what you see in those photos. Pricing is around $ 75 to $ 90 per square foot depending on the rug. All 100% handmade wool. Three in the photos plus the one I rolled up and have not yet put back down on the floor.

I still have twelve of their rugs in my own house, short of owning original antique Persians, these have always been the best reproductions available.

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