What Do You Need to Know about Carpets?

As the designers notice, the old style is fashionable in the interior design. It means that the carpets are in again. Softness and warmness of fibers is on the top of the popularity.

Motley Solitaire

During the last years the demand on the carpets has seriously grown. The marketing specialists explain it by the growth of private construction, and also of interest to the masterpieces and antiques. The splendid carpet is now not only an illustration of good taste, but also a symbol of well-being.

Unlike the regular rugs, the real carpet is a textile art product. The wall and the floor are decorated with carpets. One single carpet may radically improve the boring interior.

Altogether a carpet is a perfect remedy for keeping and multiplying of family capitals. A rarity carpet may be compared with Maserati car of Omega watch. Besides, the old samples are highly appreciated, as for example the antique furniture. However don’t forget, the products which are older than fifty years are of a high price only. The rest starts getting cheaper from the moment of buying it.

Except of antique things, the modern qualitative carpets are also sold. They are made according the traditional technology. They are produced both in Ukraine and abroad. As the customers don’t have any idea about the difference between the Persian and Turkmen carpet, we should stop at this moment more precisely. The geography of carpets producing is really wide today. They are brought from Moldova, Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, India, France, Belgium etc. The European carpets are machinery product. The Asian products are generally made manually.

The Persian (Iran) carpets are well-known all over the world. The carpet weaving is one of the most important economic branches of Iran. This country is a world leader in carpet production now, the Persian carpets are considered to be the best at the East. The Persian carpets made in Isfahan are mostly estimated. Here the carpets with big medallions (the central element of carpet design) and strong contrast between the dark border and light main field are made here according to the classic canons. However the different ornaments and colors may be met. These carpets are distinguished by the plant ornament, the mixture of blue, pink and dark-blue colors is often used in the ornament, and the background has a color of ivory. The second “carpet capital” of Iran is a city of Cum. The Cum carpets don’t give in to the Isfahan carpets in the quality and price.

The Asians (India, Pakistan, and China) are the main competitors of Iran carpet industry. They offer no less refined carpets, but more cheap ones. They are made for the Iran samples.

The Nepal carpets distinguish from the Persian by their look and original production technique, and also by the unique colors.

The well-known in our country are Turkmen carpets, which are now produced not only in Turkmenistan, but also in Turkey, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The Turkmen people have been divided for lots of tribes for a long time. Each of the tribes has its own historical ornament of carpet. The universal element, which characterizes all the Turkmen carpets, is a repeated ornament. The background color is usually blue or claret, the dominated palette is brownish and blackish red.

As for the ornament of European carpets, it’s diverse and cosmopolite: the designers of the Old World widely use the decorative elements and palettes, which are typical for the carpets from different countries. The European carpets have the elements of baroque, rococo, classicism, modern and popular styles – high-tech and country.

Pay Attention At

The cost of the carpets depends on the lots of factors and has a big diapason. For example, the price of Persian carpet is $300 for sq. m, Chinese one costs from $200 for sq. m. Except for the origin, the price also depends on the material of the carpet, technology of its producing, and design.

The main materials used in the carpet weaving are fleece, silk and cotton (however, the goat wool and camel wool are also used). The specialists name the natural wool as a main material for the carpets, however to reduce the cost of the carpet the cotton, flax and synthetic are often use. The expensive wall carpets are made from silk. So the majority of manual carpets are woolen. It’s comfortable to work with wool; it’s soft and long-living. The wool of the highest quality is cut from the breast of the Afghan lamb. The wool from Iran, Caucasus, Australia and New Zealand is also highly estimated. The cotton (and also flax, jute) is mostly used for the base, the skeleton, of carpet. Besides, the modern carpet makers have to deal with artificial materials (polyamide, viscose etc.).

The carpets are divided into some groups by the way of producing. The first group includes the products, created manually. The second group includes carpets made manually and with machines. The third group includes the carpets, which are made by means of machines only.

There’re carpets with pile and without. The face side of the pile products may be even or volumetric (this effect is got by non-evenness of fiber, which height may be from 6 to 30 mm).

According to the experts, the customers pay attention on the look of carpet, its sizes and fiber height while choosing the carpet. Some of the sophisticated customers also ask about the density of the carpet, because the high density (it means the big amount of knots for one square meter of product) is considered as a sign of high quality. However the specialists state: the only advantage of the more dense carpets is the clear ornament. The rest doesn’t make a difference.

As to the height of the pile, the carpet with the long pile is a very unpractical product, because it should be either put on the wall, or put on the floor in a place, which is not often walked. It’s strictly forbidden to put furniture on these carpets.

It’s desirable to choose a carpet according the color of walls, the trimming on the windows and upholstered furniture. By means of carpets you may divide a premise on functional zones. For example, the carpet in the dining-room will definitely distinguish it from the kitchen, and you’ll need to put the partitions.

While choosing the color of the carpet, pay attention, that red, yellow and creamy colors make the room look comfortable. The small narrow premise may be saved by the grey carpet. By the way, you may buy not only the ready carpet, but also order yourself a carpet with a specific ornament, height of pile etc.

Pure Profit

Buying of carpet is a serious case. However you shouldn’t forget about the constant care of the carpet. You should keep the simple rules in order to provide a long life for your carpets. You shouldn’t keep it in the premises with high humidity. The direct sunrays are also forbidden for the carpets. The carpet, which lay on the floor, should be periodically moved for 90 or 180 grades, so it’ll avoid the preliminary deterioration.

The new wool carpet periodically looses the pile – it’s normal. At first such carpets should be cleaned with damp sponge only. Don’t walk on the carpet in dirty shoes: the sand gets into the pile and the carpet wears through very quickly.

Besides, old carpets are the simplest in exploitation, because they were immediately soaked, trampled down and dried, in order to make them steady to the bad influences. Right now nobody does than, that’s a cup of tea, accidently spilt on the modern carpet, will spoil the mood of it owners for sure. In order to avoid situations like that, the specialists recommend processing the new carpets. Don’t even think about washing a carpet or remove stains from it just by yourself. The professionals will deal better with it.

A custom to clean carpet is casual in our society. As a rule, the carpets are cleaned with a brush or vacuum cleaner. At least once a year it should be dry-cleaned. This service you’ll get after applying to the cleaning companies. The optimal technology is: dry cleaning of carpet, damp processing of it with applying of proper remedies. Such technology is done both at the place of customer, and in the workshop. The price of the carpets cleaning is between 15 and 60 grivnas for one square meter (depending on the type of carpet and level of its pollution).

Iryna Kladko, the leading marketing specialist of Shaden Group:

— Carpets care is one of the most difficult problems of cleaning industry. You should follow the principle “Don’t harm!” as in medicine, because the consequences of improper cleaning may be catastrophic.

The main specificities of carpet cleaning are inadmissibility of strong mechanic influence, and also of washing during the cleaning, heating and drying. That’s why it’s important to strictly stick to the technology of cleaning and to properly choose the chemicals.

Sergej Shkedov, the selling manager of salon Elitnye Kovry Ruchnoj Raboty:

— Nowadays the machines are widely used for producing of carpets, but the products done manually are also popular. The machine will never replace a master. To create a unique thing, the talent and huge patience are necessary, because you need a couple of months to create a medium-sized carpet; some masterpieces are done a couple of years…

Right now the capital market has a few qualitative manual carpets, because these things are really expensive, which means not everybody can afford themselves to buy it.

The production of handmade carpets is generally concentrated in the countries with old traditions of carpet weaving. These are Iran, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and China. The real carpet, made according to the classic technology, literally and metaphorically enriches the interior. However you should remember that the cleaning of the carpet has to be done by specialists.

Source: “Stolichnaya Nedvigimost”