Wool Area Rugs

Today, the most common regions for authentic wool area rug production remain Armenia, Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. India, Nepal and Pakistan also make and manufacture wool carpet and wool area rugs. Turkey retains its rug dominance as a prime center for wool carpets and round area rugs in traditional styles.

Pakistan is a large rug industry player as well, with a huge selection of affordable round rugs, square rugs and oval rugs adapted to western themes. There are not only the traditional colorful patterns of the east, but also contemporary area rugs that are washable rugs and accent rugs for indoor and outdoor use.

Morocco and Spain still have handmade carpets, although they also manufacture and create lines of wool area rugs that are used for export to the rest of Europe and the world. Moroccan and Spanish rugs have blues and greens and Islamic motifs that mimic the Moorish architecture of the Alhambra and the vast arches and edifices that demark Granada.

Area rug making is also a tradition in the mountain region of Las Alpujarras, the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Knotted, woven, tied, flatweave, and braided area rugs in creams and whites, the color of the mountain goats that roam the crests are most popular. China and Tibet also manufacture and hand craft large quantities of area rugs for export.

Tibetan wool area rugs are some of the finest in the world, for quality and unique design. China manufactures and mass-produces everything everyone in the world creates since they are masters of reproduction.

There isn’t a modern or antique area rug, be it a round wool area rug of Persian design or a shag rug or a braided rug that the Chinese will not produce cheaper. The Chinese area rugs will often be a cheap rug alternative for decorating your house.

Oddly enough a great variety of original and imitation wool area rugs are manufactured in the United States. There are massive rug manufacturers in Dalton, Georgia, said to produce 90% of all area rugs and carpeting used in the United States and earning the region the distinction of being the Carpet Capital of the world. Not surprising since there are over 150 rug factories and another 100 or so wholesalers just in Dalton who also export vast quantities of area rugs to the international market.

When selecting an area rug, the most obvious decision to be made is what color and design, but the most important decision will be what fiber and yarns have been used to create your rug. The fiber and the weave or knot style will determine the durability and wash-ability of the rug.

Area rugs can be made of many different fibers both natural and manmade and can also be blends of natural and synthetic yarn mixtures. Despite incredible advances in synthetic fiber technology for rugs and carpets, wool and wool/synthetic blends remain the best for area rugs.

Unquestionably, wool area rugs offer the best possible durability. Also, wool can be dyed very easily, so the most vivid and diverse colors and patterns are available in wool. For example you can have a zebra rug that isn’t the actual skin of zebra but a wool area rug dyed to look like a zebra rug. A shag rug, which are not the hideous rugs of the ‘70’s, but chic shag rugs, are often long hair wool area rugs that are dyed to match your décor. Even blue area rugs and purple and pink area rugs come in wool shag.