The History of Rugs and Carpets

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A Legacy of Craftsmanship, From Ancient Persia to Contemporary Dalton, Georgia

For thousands of years, humans have used rugs and carpets to guard themselves from the elements, decorate their dwellings, cover their floors, and make their lives more comfortable. From basic felt mats to knotted Persian rugs to today’s tufted carpets, the world of rug and carpet manufacturing has gone through many major iterations, with notable innovations arising at different times across the planet.

As both works of art and functional, practical products, rugs and carpets have played a special role in the life of humans since prehistoric times. In the paragraphs below, we explore the materials, technologies, artistry, and ingenuity at play throughout the rich history of rugs and carpets.

The Oldest Knotted Rugs and Carpets

While ancient humans had already been making felt and plaited mats in many parts of the world long before this, some of the earliest evidence of true “knotted” carpets can be seen in a stone carving, now held in the Louvre, from the 8th century BC. This stone carving, found in the Assyrian palace of Khorsabad in modern Iraq, features a representation of an early rug containing a pattern of four-leafed plants surrounded by a border of lotus.

Beyond this artistic representation, the earliest surviving carpets prove that humans have taken the design and craftsmanship of these items extremely seriously for thousands of years. While excavating royal graves in Siberia dating back to the 5th century BC, researchers discovered the oldest known examples of knotted rugs or carpets, including the Pazyryk carpet.

This ancient carpet, believed to have originated in Persia or Armenia, is roughly 6 feet by 6.5 feet in size and features roughly 360,000 knots per square meter (a higher knot density than most knotted carpets still seen on the market today). The center of this brightly colored carpet features a checkerboard-style design with a floral star in the middle of each square. Around these checkered squares are two elaborate borders: one featuring a series of elk, the other a series of horsemen. Frozen deep in the ice for hundreds of years, this delicate carpet was able to survive into the modern day.

In more recent centuries, carpet and rug-related innovations have arisen in various parts of the world. From central Asia of the distant past to modern day Dalton, Georgia, many different areas have a rich heritage of carpet design and manufacture. Below, we explore some of the most notable regions in the history of rugs and carpets, wrapping up our summary with a brief history of the emergence of the tufted carpet and rug industry in the southern United States.

Notable Carpet Making Regions in Asia and the Middle East

Persia

Dating back hundreds and hundreds of years, Persian products have a special place in the history of carpets and rugs. By the 15th century AD, under Persian leader Shah Rokh, art culture—including the making of fine carpets—was thriving. Persian carpets of the era, crafted exclusively by palace workshops and subsidized looms, exhibited a consistent style, quality materials, and a high degree of skilled craftsmanship.

15th-century Persia also displayed exceptional skill and accomplishment in the art of bookmaking, producing elegant books with sophisticated artwork and colorful patterning. Many of these bookmaking innovations influenced other artists of the period, including carpet makers, and many parallels can be seen in the court carpets of the time. The medallion carpets from northwest Persia, featuring several layers of designs with “medallions” covering various vine, flower, animal, and other patterns, are a notable example of this, as these designs were directly stolen from books of the time.

By the end of the 16th century AD, Persian artisans had crafted some of the most famous and notable carpets of all time—many of which continued to showcase the overt influence of book design. Of the roughly twelve carpets from this era that survive today, all are relatively large and feature intricate, detailed designs and elaborate coloration.

Particularly notable examples include two carpets found at Ardabil in eastern Azerbaijan, which were created in 1539-1540 and feature an intricate weave of stems and flowers over an indigo field, all covered by a detailed medallion. Another beautiful and famous carpet, completed around 1523, shows a scarlet and gold medallion over a deep blue field, all of which depicts flowers, stems, and hunters chasing after animals.

Today, some experts still regard these Persian carpets as the most significant achievement in the history of rug and carpet design. Meanwhile, the 16th century also saw a rise in the use of silk to make fine, small carpets throughout the region.

By the 17th century, expensive Persian carpets were produced with gold and silver thread, as well as fine silk, in such abundance that they were being heavily exported abroad. More than 200 of these carpets have been discovered in Europe to date, and some of these carpets showcase an influence from European Renaissance and Baroque artistry.

Throughout this era of relative wealth and opulence, nomads and others in the region also created humbler, so-called “low school” rugs—still generally beautiful, functional, and intricately patterned carpets. Eventually, by the 19th century, growing Western demand led to a decrease in the artistry and craftsmanship associated with Persian rug making. But throughout the 20th century, the tradition of weaving fine Persian carpets and rugs underwent a revival.

Turkey

Gaining prominence in the 16th century, early Turkish rugs sometimes followed Persian designs, featuring cloud bands, feathery white leaves, and pale rose, blue, and emerald green coloration.

Meanwhile, native Turkish traditions in rug and carpet making also arose in the 16th century. These unique designs, normally crafted for mosques or wealthy residences, used rich, quiet, and harmonious colors as well as relatively static patterns, a contrast to the more dynamic and intricate patterns seen in most Persian carpets.

Carpets of this era from Ushak in western Anatolia are perhaps the best living examples of this legacy of Turkish craftsmanship, featuring central star medallions in blue, yellow, and gold over fields of deep red. Many 16th-century European painters, including Hans Holbein the Younger and Lorenzo Lotto, featured these carpets in some of their most notable works.

In the 17th century, Turkish innovators created the “bird carpet,” featuring ivory-colored fields, other soft colors, and various bird motifs. Throughout the 18th and 19th century, many “low school” rugs produced across Asia continued to honor the traditions of Turkish design.

Turkey’s most lauded creations in this industry are mostly Islamic prayer rugs, including the famous Anatolian prayer rugs from the 18th and 19th centuries that were produced in Ghiordes and Kula. In the United States, these beautiful rugs became the first major collector’s items for rug and carpet enthusiasts.

The Caucasus

The earliest evidence of knotted pile carpets in the Caucasus region comes from the 13th and 14th centuries in Georgia, where fragments have been found in various cave systems. By the 17th century, rug and carpet manufactories in the region—possibly started by the Persians themselves—were making carpets loosely based on Persian prototypes. However, these carpets generally featured bolder, more lively designs than traditional Persians.

By the late 19th century, growing demand for carpets in the Western world led to a major expansion of weaving throughout the Caucasus. Major manufacturing sites arose in Derbent in Dagestan, Quba in Azerbaijan, and various areas within the old khanate of Shirvan. These carpets featured a short-piled weave, medium fineness, symmetrical knots, and wool foundations, which sometimes integrated cotton.

Elsewhere in the Caucasus, people weaved more coarse, knotted rugs with longer piles, often containing prominent geometric designs in bold primary colors. Some parts of the Caucasus, notably the town of Kusary in the Kuba district, produced carpets with a thick padding of loose threads at the back. These carpets were made with a special type of weft wrapping known as “soumak.”

Turkistan

As nomads who had created their own rugs for centuries, the Turkmen people of the Turkistan region continued to weave small rugs (as well as door coverings, bags, and more) long after they began settling in cities and settlements during the 19th century.

Several small groups within the Turkmen people soon gained prominence as rug and carpet manufacturers. For instance, the Tekke people soon became known for their gul designs, which featured octagonal motifs repeated in rows. Other Turkmen groups, including the Saryk and Salor, made comparable rugs, but they used slightly differing gul designs that represented their own unique identities.

Turkmen rugs and carpets, sometimes marketed as “Afghans,” are typically asymmetrically knotted and made of wool, though certain groups used cotton in the wefts as well. Occasionally, a Turkistan carpet may also feature silk components.

In the historical region formerly known as “Chinese Turkistan,” there’s a longstanding tradition of rug-making as well. In more recent times, this area has produced an array of carpet designs, some of which reflect the artistry of the Middle East while some more closely resemble a common Chinese rug. Originally made mostly of silk, these rugs and carpets were asymmetrically knotted, brightly colored, and often mislabeled as “Samarkands” when sold abroad.

Egypt

Since at least the age of the Roman Empire, Egyptians used a slit-loop technique to weave pile rugs. Early stone carvings depict Egyptian workers operating various looms. But it wasn’t until the 15th century AD that an organized industry evolved in Egypt. At that point, asymmetrically knotted rugs began to be made in Cairo and possibly other Egyptian cities before being exported abroad.

A common item of trade throughout the Mediterranean basin, Egyptian rugs featured complex geometric patterns and typically had anywhere from one to five medallions integrated into the design.

India

Muslim conquerors likely brought rug-weaving tools and techniques to India in the 8th century AD. However, the earliest surviving rugs from India were made in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the land was ruled by the Mughal Empire.

When the Portuguese, Dutch, and English began trading with India by sea, they brought many of these rugs and carpets to Europe, and many of those carpets are still around today. The Mughal Empire’s court also commissioned extraordinarily fine rugs made of wool and silk. These fine rugs influenced the direction of Persian carpet design (and vice versa).

China

Chinese rugs typically feature restrained color schemes, conventional Chinese ornamentation, and relatively little red. Most often asymmetrically knotted on a cotton foundation, they have coarse, thick piles. While early examples feature an abundance of brown, later rugs are more so characterized by their various shades of yellow and blue. Many Chinese rugs feature repetitive vegetation, simple borders, and Daoist or Buddhist symbolism.

Notably, China is unique for its “pillar carpets.” These interesting carpets are crafted so that, when wrapped around a pillar, the edges meld together to form a continuous design. In the 10th century, China began mass-producing rugs and carpets for export, creating simpler designs with a specific focus on foreign demand.

Notable Carpet Making Regions in Europe

Spain

Spain began making knotted pile carpets as early as the 8th century AD, largely due to their close connections with the Islamic rug-making world. By the 12th century, they had introduced the Spanish knot, which thrived and distinguished Spanish carpets and rugs through the 15th century and beyond.

Spanish rugs and carpets often reflect Islamic or Anatolian symbolism, while many others feature Christian emblems and European influences. Meanwhile, carpets from the Alpujarra region were early pioneers in the use of an uncut weft-loop carpet weaving technique.

France

In France, the tools and techniques for early carpet and rug making came mostly from Asia and the Middle East, and it’s likely some of this knowledge was first brought back to Europe by Marco Polo. That said, the design of French carpets and rugs has long been driven more by trends in contemporary French art and decoration than by outside influences.

French designs gained special prominence and popularity with the emergence of the Savonnerie carpet factory in the early 17th century. In particular, these carpets became especially famous and distinguished after Louis XIV ordered a massive number of Savonnerie carpets and rugs for his palace at Versailles.

In 1826, the Savonnerie factory merged with the Gobelins factory, and the combined venture continues to manufacture French carpets to this date. Formed of woolen piles on mostly linen warps, French carpets were known for being thick and strong. The Savonnerie carpets in particular are known for showcasing uniquely European elements common in carpet design.

The United Kingdom and Ireland

After carpets from Turkey reached the United Kingdom sometime around the 16th century, a native rug and carpet weaving industry emerged, though only about a dozen examples from this period remain today. These early U.K. carpets featured a hemp warp and weft and a medium-fine woolen pile, all tied with the symmetrical knot. They typically had a green background and featured an unusually large number of other shades and colors.

These designs can be categorized in one of two ways. The first group features typically English imagery and resembles modern embroidery. An early carpet from 1570, which belonged to the Earl of Verulam, is a great example of this type of design. The second group comprises numerous pieces of carpet knotting, then called “Turkey work,” which more closely imitates traditional Asian and Middle Eastern craftsmanship.

Throughout the 18th century, carpet and rug factories were built across the United Kingdom. The rise of mechanized production techniques, however, caused the U.K.’s carpet and rug industry to dwindle and almost disappear by 1880. At that point, the artist and poet William Morris led a major revival in the crafts of carpet making and other traditional textile-related arts.

In the late 1800s, a carpet factory in Donegal, Ireland, was established. Throughout the 20th century, Irish handicraft societies continued to weave small knotted rugs.

Scandinavia

Today’s Swedish and Finnish rugs, known as “rya” rugs, are made using traditional techniques that date back to the Vikings (who likely borrowed them from Turkey). Scandinavian nations are also known for their braided and woven patchwork carpets with interwoven strips as well as their unique products which feature a pile on either side, often made with symmetrical knots and three warps.

From woven carpets and floor coverings to upholstery fabrics, handmade products crafted throughout Scandinavia have many similarities, with minor differences in color and motif found between nations. Geometric patterns based on native Scandinavian artistry are commonplace, and there’s also a notable influence from floral Dutch tapestry designs.

Eastern Europe

The history of Eastern European carpet and rug design showcases a strong influence from the Middle East and the rest of Asia, including complex geometric patterning, with relatively little European influence. Tapestry-woven carpets, known as kilims, are common throughout the region. In Romania, carpet production rose in the 20th century as a result of increased government involvement and a revived interest in folk art.

Across Europe, the rise in machine-made carpets during the Industrial Revolution led to the downfall of hand-woven products throughout the 19th century. During the 20th century, however, a conscientious revival of traditional folk art and crafting techniques brought about the return of quality handcrafted rugs and carpets.

The History of North American Rugs and Carpets

While the indigenous peoples of North America have not been known to use knotting techniques to make carpets and rugs, their earliest known history exhibits the widespread use of flat-woven rugs and blankets. Until the introduction of the domestic sheep in the 16th century, these rugs and blankets were made mostly of cotton, dog hair, and other natural fibers. Featuring black, white, yellow, blue, tan, and red coloration, early American Indian rugs showcased abstract elements like stripes and zigzags. Today, the Pueblo and Navajo tribes are particularly renowned for their carpet-making skill.

In the United States, early European colonists made carpets and rugs by knitting, crocheting, or braiding strips of material and then sewing the components together before embroidering them onto a coarse-woven backing. Around the beginning of the 18th century, many Americans began using a technique known as hooking, in which they’d draw strips of material through a woven foundation. Surviving examples from the era are very colorful, containing animal imagery as well as floral and geometric patterns.

While these simple carpets were widespread, early European settlers, like the American Indians, did not generally make knotted carpets. It wasn’t until the end of the 1700s, with the introduction of machine weaving, that knotted carpets became popular in North America.

Machine Weaving and Early Manufactories in the U.S.

In 1791, businessman William Sprague introduced machine weaving to the United States at his carpet mill in Philadelphia, launching the native carpet industry that thrives in the U.S. to this day. Other carpet and rug manufactories opened in New England in the following decades, further displacing hand-made carpets and rugs in favor of machine weaving. Woven wool was the material of choice for these early American carpet producers.

The invention of the power loom for weaving carpets by Erastus Bigelow in 1838 changed the industry even further. Now honored in the Smithsonian Institution, this innovative loom doubled carpet production in the first year after its creation. By 1850, it had tripled domestic carpet production—dramaticlly reshaping the carpet and rug making business in the United States and beyond. Continuing to innovate for the rest of his life, Mr. Bigelow eventually earned at least 33 loom-related patents and introduced the first broadloom carpet in 1877.

Another notable invention came from the Clinton Company of Massachusetts, which introduced the power loom with a Jacquard mechanism in 1849 to make looped-pile Brussels carpets. This loom was later altered to create the Wilton carpet, and the Clinton Company eventually merged with other entities to form the Bigelow Carpet Company.

After opening a carpet weaving plant in New York in 1845, a man named Alexander Smith joined forces with another industry expert, Halcyon Skinner, to launch a highly successful joint venture. Having been elected to Congress in 1878, Mr. Smith died on election night. At the time, roughly 1,600 people were working in his Alexander Smith & Sons’ carpet factory, which grew to become the world’s largest carpet and rug manufacturer by 1929.

In 1874, four brothers formed the Shuttleworth Brothers Company in New York, operating 14 looms they’d imported from England. After introducing the Karnak Wilton carpet design in 1905, the Shuttleworth brothers experienced massive success, enabling them to construct a new building for the exclusive purpose of manufacturing more Karnak Wilton carpets. By 1920, their company had merged with another manufacturer, forming Mohawk Carpet Mills.

Famous entrepreneur and retailer Marshall Field drove further innovation in the wide world of carpet production, introducing the first machine-made rug that was woven through the back, similar to handmade Persians and other Asian and Middle Eastern carpets of the past. These beautiful rugs, containing complex designs and a nearly unlimited color palette, were created by Mr. Field using a modified Axminster weaving loom. Eventually, these carpets were marketed under the brand name “Karastan,” becoming popular items throughout the country.

Today, the Bigelow, Smith, and Karastan brands are still alive and well, all entities within Mohawk Industries.

The Tufted Carpet Industry Is Born

Before largely displacing knotted carpets, the tufted carpet industry originated in the late 1800s in Dalton, Georgia, a small town in the northwestern corner of the state. Since then, Dalton has grown to become the epicenter of the global tufted carpet industry.

At the tail end of the 1800s, a Dalton woman named Catherine Evans Whitener set out to make a bedspread and began sewing thick cotton yarns with a running stitch into unbleached muslin. She would then cut the ends of the looped yarn so the fibers would “fluff out” before washing the bedspread in hot water, which shrank the fabric enough to hold the cut yarns in position. As the first examples of today’s “tufted carpet” techniques, Ms. Whitener’s bedspreads hit the market in 1900 at a price of $2.50.

By the 1930s, demand for these bedspreads had more than 10,000 men, women, and children (known as “cottage tufters”) in the Dalton area working on these products. This income helped many Georgia families survive the depression and earned Dalton the nickname “The Bedspread Capital of the World.”

Ms. Whitener’s innovations not only launched the modern tufted carpet industry that still thrives in Dalton, Georgia, today—she also inspired other women of her time to excel at their own entrepreneurial endeavors. Another female entrepreneur, Ms. J. T. Bates, described how she took novel risks that paid off for her own business, stating that she “shipped 15 spreads to John Wannamaker’s department store in New York. On a piece of plain tablet paper, I made out a bill for $98.15 and put it in with the spreads. Although there had been no previous contact whatsoever with the store, Wannamaker’s sent us a check for $98.15.”

Mechanization Revolutionizes Dalton’s Tufted Carpet Industry

Around the 1930s, a number of forces coalesced to make these tufted bedspreads too expensive to produce by hand. As demand for these products continued to grow, Mr. Glen Looper of Dalton invented the first mechanized tufting machine by modifying a single-needle commercial Singer sewing machine. This new invention would tuft the yarn into the unbleached muslin without ripping the fabric and featured an added knife to slice the yarn loop.

Soon, these machines grew to contain as many as twenty-four or more needles in a single device, producing parallel rows of tufts known as chenille in a highly efficient process. By 1941, 99% of tufted bedspreads were produced using these types of machines. Meanwhile, Dalton plants began manufacturing mats, rugs, and other products using cotton yarns and fabrics alongside these new technologies.

In post-World War II America, demand for these items skyrocketed, as did their production. In 1946, the industry consumed roughly 30,000 bales of cotton. Just four years later, in 1950, that figure reached a staggering 500,000 bales.

While Dalton’s producers sold these tufted items through correspondence and department stores, they also advertised their products locally along “Bedspread Alley,” a major stretch of highway running near Dalton. In the heyday of Bedspread Alley, the most popular tufted design (outselling others by roughly 12 to 1) was “the Peacock,” a bedspread featuring two feathered birds facing each other with colorful outstretched tails spanning the spread. Bedspread Alley, now mostly a thing of the past, survived well into the 1970s.

As Dalton’s tufted carpet industry grew and grew during the 1900s, related industries expanded throughout the area as well. Machine shops arose to manufacture multi-needle sewing machines, plants emerged to dye the yarns, printing shops grew to supply labeling needs, and so much more, creating a thriving economic environment.

Meanwhile, manufacturers expanded far beyond the narrow world of bedspreads, creating robes, beach wear, rugs, bathroom sets, and, of course, carpets, all using the same tufting techniques, materials, and technology. At the same time, machinery for making bigger rugs and wall-to-wall broadloom carpets continued to evolve. Paired with the development of new fibers, these innovations dramatically accelerated the adoption of broadloom carpets, leading to the continued expansion of Dalton’s industry.

Synthetic Fibers Change Carpets Forever

Initially, Dalton’s tufted products were made almost exclusively out of cotton fibers. But eventually, Dalton’s manufacturers began to introduce other materials, including other natural fibers like wool as well as various synthetic fibers like nylon, rayon, acrylics, and more. First used in 1947, nylon fibers eventually came to dominate the industry. Other major introductions include polyester in 1965 and polypropylene (also known as olefin) soon thereafter.

Today, many carpet industry experts would agree that the invention of bulk continuous filament nylon yarn was the most important innovation in the history of carpet manufacturing, resulting in the creation of more durable, more luxurious, more cleanable, and less expensive tufted products.

Together with other inventions, like new dye machines and tufting equipment, novel printing methods, and innovative spinning and backing techniques, the advent of nylon and other synthetic fibers revolutionized the world of tufted carpets and rugs and made them much more popular.

Growing from a $133 million industry in 1951, the tufted products industry had ballooned into a billion-dollar business by just 1963, with carpet representing a major chunk of that business. Likewise, in 1950, an estimated 90% of carpets and rugs were woven and only 10% were tufted; today, more than 90% of carpets and rugs are tufted products (while less than 2% are woven).

Dalton Today

In modern times, Dalton, Georgia, continues to be the epicenter of tufted carpet and rug manufacturing, producing more than 70% of the world’s total output. Of course, new materials and machinery continue to lead to new innovations and improvements in the world of carpets and rugs.

And all over the globe, human beings continue to line their floors and decorate their homes with carpets and rugs, just like they did in ancient times.

*While researching for this article, we relied on the following sources:

Eiland, Murray L. “Rug and Carpet.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, May 2022, https://www.britannica.com/technology/rug-and-carpet. Accessed January 2025.

“History of Carpet.” The Carpet and Rug Institute Inc., https://carpet-rug.org/about-us/history-of-carpet/. Accessed January 2025.

“The History of Carpet.” Insigné Carpets, May 2020, https://www.insignecarpets.com/blog/all/the-history-of-carpet. Accessed January 2025.

“History of Carpet.” Avalon Flooring, https://www.avalonflooring.com/blogs/blog/history-of-carpet. Accessed January 2025.

Brinton, Reginald S. Carpets. Read Books Ltd., May 2013. Accessed via Google Books January 2025.

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