Carpet

A carpet is any loom-woven, felted textile or grass floor covering. The term was also used for table and wall coverings, as carpets were not commonly used on the floor in European interiors until the 18th century. more...

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The hand-knotted pile carpet probably originated in central asia between the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. Carpet-making was introduced to Spain in 10th century by the Moors. The Crusades brought Turkish carpets to all of Europe, where they were primarily hung on walls or used on tables. Only with the opening of trade routes in the 17th century were significant numbers of Persian rugs introduced to Western Europe.

Some use the words carpet and rug interchangeably. Historically, however, some have distinguished between carpet and rug based on size (the former being larger) or use (carpets on floors, rugs on beds or on the hearth). For the sake of clarity, some textile scholars also differentiate between carpets and carpeting. In this usage, the latter are wall-to-wall and are often woven or tufted as "roll goods", most often in 12 foot widths but sometimes in up to 15 foot widths. In the real estate and home improvement industries a distinction is made between carpet (or carpeting) and rug. The former indicates a covering that is affixed to a floor and the latter a floor covering that is loose-laid, most often for decorative purposes.

Carpet types

The global carpet market for domestic and industrial end use is dominated by three manufacturing processes:

Woven: The carpet is produced on a loom similar to woven cloth and is a cut pile. Normally many coloured yarns are used and this process is capable of producing intricate patterns from pre-determined designs. These carpets are normally the highest value on the market.

Tufted: The carpet is produced on a tufting machine using a single coloured or sometimes non coloured yarn. If non coloured yarn is used the carpet will be dyed or printed with a design as a separate process. Tufted carpets can be either cut pile, loop pile or a combination of both. Tufting machines produce many more metres of carpet per hour than weaving does and normally are at the low to medium end of the market. Modern tufting technology now enables the production of mainly basic geometric patterns.

Needlefelt: These carpets are more technologically advanced. Needlefelts are produced by electrostatic attraction of individual synthetic fibers forming a unique carpet with extremely high durability. These carpets are normally found in the contract market such as hotels etc. where there is a lot of traffic.

A flatweave carpet is created by interlocking warp (vertical) and weft (horizontal) threads. Types of oriental flatwoven carpet include kilim, soumak, plain weave, and tapestry weave. Types of European flatwoven carpets include Venetian, Dutch, damask, list, haircloth, and ingrain (aka double cloth, two-ply, triple cloth, or three-ply).

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