Afghanistan rugs are made in a wide range of sizes, larger rugs seem to be more popular in the UK. They are coarser in texture than Pakistan Bokhara rugs and Turkoman rugs, but they do resemble them in colour and design. Afghan rugs, however are more striking, the octagonal designs are larger and bolder. City’s around Afghanistan including the capital Kabul are known to be good trading places for the sale of these unique rugs, most rugs are made by wandering nomadic tribes on the frontier.
Afghan rugs have a firm but soft texture, the rough beauty and bold but fine colourings are very attractive.  Most Afghan rugs are coloured in red with black detailing, recently rusty shades have also been put into production which are proving to be quite popular across the world.

We mainly stock two different designs which are Khan and Aqcha, both are made in deep reds and black, the Aqcha design is more of a traditional Afghan design, the Khan design is very similar in colour but design is slightly different and is more tribal in appearance.

Aqcha

Khan

Close Up

Sheepskin rugs combine gorgeous soft textures and stunning looks, now a huge range of colours and sizes are available so when you’re decorating this type of rug is worth a thought. Although rugs are now a common type of furnishing, it is nice to add that little bit extra, a little bit of thought and imagination maybe needed and a break from your normal line of thinking. This is when a sheepskin rug maybe the missing link to making your décor look stunning and unique. Due the the natural nature of sheepskins no two rugs are identical, a double sheepskin is made from two different skins and even though the skins will be matched before sowing there will be slight variations in pile texture and shading, this only adds the the uniqueness and character.

Sheepskins are also more practical than you probably think, the nature of the pile is self cleaning and resistant to stains, if your rug does need a clean they can be machine washed on a low wool cycle.

A large range of sizes are now available from a single skin which is around 70x90cm up-to a 14 skin which is around 180x305cm, we can also bespoke sizes and shapes to order, so if you require a round rug in a 180cm diameter circle this can be done.

We only stock quality skins from New-Zealand and Australia, skins from anywhere else are regarded as second best and are often thinner and less dense.

The tradition of textile weaving in the Flemish region of Belgium dates back hundreds of years and has developed from a local cottage based activity into the highly mechanised industrial process of today, exporting Belgian carpets all over the world. The way in which production is carried out may alter, but the basic principles of Wilton production have been carried through by the use of high quality yarns and dyes, along with a rich tradition of artistic design which combine to realise the end product.
Over recent years the demand for lower costs products and tighter purse strings has influenced many Flemish weavers to use high quality acrylic / polypropylene yarns instead of the traditional wool yarns, acrylic as a raw material is cheaper to manufacture and recent yarn manufacturing methods has enabled man-made yarns to closely resemble wool.
Weavers can now weave extremely dense piled rugs, it is not unusual to see Wilton rugs advertised with 1 million points or tufts per square metre, which sounds impressive!
Rugs with this pile count are general quite heavy and extremely hard-wearing, other benefits with acrylic piled Wilton rugs include the use of chemical treated yarns which help protect against mould, stains, insects and fading by the sun.

The backing of a rug is usually over looked when purchasing, customers usually look for colour, pile and pattern but just as important if not the most important factor is the construction and backing.
Generally speaking the vast majority of rugs have one of two different backings which are either woven or tufted.

Woven rugs can be machine woven or hand woven, machine woven rugs are more often than not made on Wilton weaving looms, this type of weave is hard wearing and can be vastly produced in relatively short time periods. The pile is usually polypropylene on cheaper ranges, on mid range Wilton rugs the pile is heat-set, this basically means the polypropylene  pile is subjected to heat, this sets the yarns fibre into a wool like yarn. The pile on top end Wilton rugs is usually made from worsted New Zealand wool.
Hand woven or hand knotted rugs are made by hand on manually operated weaving looms, this type of weave is extremely time consuming and as a result more costly, hand woven rugs are unique and full of character.

Tufted rugs are made by tufting yarn into a sack like material, the sacking is set into latex glue which sets the pile in place. Tufted rugs have a secondary backing which is usually canvas, this secondary backing protects your floor from the latex. This type of manufacturing is faster than hand weaving but it can still take up to a day to make a relatively small rug. Both wool rugs and acrylic rugs can be made in this way.

Over the past two decades rugs have changed dramatically, up until the mid Nineties styles and patterns were very limited. The majority of designs were traditional and either machine made woven Wilton, generally made in Belgium or handmade Chinese rugs, Oriental rugs like Persian rugs were obviously popular as were sheepskin rugs.
Around the mid nineties manufactures started to look more at interior décors and soft furnishing which were already starting to enter the modern era, the result inspired manufactures and importers to look at new modern designs and neutral themed rugs, this kicked started the whole industry to grow and evolve the same way soft furnishings and interior fashions had.

Nowadays customers can choose between thousands of designs and hundreds of yarn types and textures, new weaving and tufting techniques are constantly evolving and as a result so are textures and pile types.
As with all fashions and as the old saying states ‘what goes around comes around’ we are now seeing the demand for traditional and Chinese rugs rising, unfortunately Chinese rugs are becoming harder to source as Chinese manufactures continue to concentrate on modern rugs and rugs that are faster to manufacture.

Below are two pictures, one of the tried and tested Chinese Aubusson range and the other is our designer Tartan range.

Chinese Rugs

Tartan Rugs