Country of orgin

(Posted on 20/07/13)

Classifying rugs according to their country of origin is both logical and necessary, particularly as discrepancies in exchange rates, import tariffs and production costs can make a considerable difference to the prices asked in shops for very similar items from different countries; but this method has its limitations.National boundaries have changed, sometimes dramatically, over the last hundred years, and some traditional rug-producing countries have since been absorbed into modern states.  In addition, some of the countries whose boundaries have remained relatively stable produce such a wide variety of items, stemming from the diverse cultural, religious and ethnic background of their people, that it is impossible to categorize their rugs under one homogeneous style.In order to limit the degree of confusion that these factors may cause, the names of the traditional weaving areas (Persia, Anatolia, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Turkestan, etc) have been used when discussing the weaving, history or design influences of their rugs, and the names of the modern states have been used when referring to purely commercial factors, such as import tariffs, government actions and subsidies.