How a handmade carpet is made ... and why it matters
The foundation of a handmade rug: great wool
To make a great handmade rug you need a great wool. In the heyday of the handmade carpet in the 19th century most countries had their own flocks of sheep producing wool specially for carpets. Today most of hese breeds are classed as "rare" and there are very few commercial flocks of "carpet sheep" left in the world. A major factor behind this has been the decline in the nomadic way of life, since most of these sheep were traditionally farmed by wandering groups in upland locations.
The consequence is that today good carpet fleece fetches a premium, and in fact the majority of handmade carpets are made with short-fiber (non-durable fleece), to the detriment of quality. Torana carpets are made with two of the finest remaining carpet wools available: Tibetan and Middle Eastern. These sheep are tended by nomadic herders in mountainous areas and are able to survive winters at minus 20C, so their wool is longer and stronger than ordinary wool.
The difference between top quality wool and the cheaper stuff becomes apparent with age. Great carpet wool improves with age develops a luster. Other wools from milder climates are not suited to carpet making, but they are used by some manufacturers to keep costs down. Cheaper, short-fiber wools tend to shed fluff (and never stop doing this!) because the fibers are not long enough to go all the way through the knot ... with the consequence that most of the wool is not properly secured to the carpet. Long fiber wools are firmly anchored and this fact contributes significantly to their longevity.
The other problem with cheap wool is felting/matting. Over a year or two of usage the pile of the rug seems to form a solid mat (particularly a problem with cheap rugs using the denser Tibetan knot). Good wool on the other hand retains a soft, supple pile.
At Torana we only use 100% genuine Tibetan highland carpet wool for the rugs we make at our own workshop in Lhasa. We also don't use any additives or treatments: read more about this and why it is important here.
Preparing the wool for carpet making
The next steps for making a great handmade rug are to hand-card and then handspin the wool. These are time-consuming processes, but they are worth it because a prepared yarn has more texture and strength than a machine-spun yarn (machine preparation tends to break up delicate fibers). There is little point in paying for the best wool and then breaking it up by machine processing, but this happens surprisingly often!
The difference in yarn quality becomes more apparent at the next stage: dyeing. A hand-spun yarn develops color variations during dyeing, resulting in a much more interesting texture in the finished rug ... as well as a carpet that can last much longer.
Dyeing using the traditional small-batch process
At Torana we hand-dye our wool in small batches in a copper vat. We dye at moderate temperatures and we never "boil" the dye in, preserving the wool's strength and luster.
Hand-dyeing produces some batch-to-batch variations in color. These differences are not accidental but are important to the look of the finished carpet, giving it a distinctive "texture".
We use only non-toxic dyes in our carpets, that are free from azo derivates and chromium. This is partly for the sake of the safety of our workers, partly for the beneift of the environment around our workshop (to ensure there is no toxic run-off) and partly for the benefit of our customers who will use our carpets in their homes.
Hand-knotting
Handmade rug weaving is a complex process since the weaver must deal with 3 components (warp, weft and pile) and follow a design from a graph or from memory. For carpets made at our own workshop in Tibet we use the traditional Tibetan hand-knotting method. Knots are formed around a metal rod, and "cut" at the end of each row when the rod is released. The rod regulates the length of the pile, and ensures that all the knots are consistent and there is very little wastage of wool.
Other handmade rugs in our galleries are made using a variety of knotting techniques: We also have carpets in Torana galleries made with "Persian" and "Turkish" knotting techniques. These methods (combined with different kinds of wool) give different styles and textures to handmade rugs. See our section on weave types for an overview of their characteristics.
After knotting, the carpet is removed from the loom and the edges are finished and bound. Most of our Tibetan carpets are finished "fringeless" since we think this gives a neat contemporary look. Some of our more traditional Persian types are left with a cotton fringe in the traditional manner.
Results
The best materials, traditional methods, great design and a meticulous attention to detail combine to produce the finest handmade rugs. We can only convey so much on our website: we invite you to visit our stores and see for yourself!
