Oriental rugs are usually woven on upright looms. The weaving methods have not changed in centuries. The warp threads are stretched lengthwise from the top to the bottom pole. The weaver sits on a board beside the loom.

For most all dealers in genuine Oriental rugs, an "Oriental rug" is a piled or flat woven fabric hand-knotted in one of the traditional weaving areas of the Middle or Far East. Genuine "Oriental rugs" come from Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Tibet, Turkey, some of the southern territories of the old Soviet Union (like Azerbaijan or Armenia), Balkan countries like Romania and Albania, and some North African countries like Morocco and Egypt. Genuine Oriental rugs are not made in Belgium or anywhere else in Western Europe or in the United States (there are hand-woven rugs made by native Americans in the American Southwest, but these are called "Navajo rugs" or "American Indian rugs"). "Wilton"®, "Karistan"® and "Couristan"® rugs are rugs made by machine in Oriental rug designs; they are not "Oriental rugs". No genuine Oriental rugs are made of nylon or polypropylene.

Easiest to mistake for hand-knotted rugs are the hand-tufted rugs from China and India. Hand-tufted rugs are made using a "gun". The tufted rug is handmade, but it is not an Oriental rug because it is not knotted.

In deciding to make a tufted rug instead of a real Oriental rug, the maker has chosen the cheapest way of making a piled rug.

Weavers may work on household looms in village cottages or they may be employed in city factories. The factories hold only the looms--no machinery. Several Factory weavers may work on one rug. The number of knots determines the fineness of the weave and the wearing qualities.>

Taken from Encyclopedia Britannica.

To understand the terminology and structure of an oriental rug click here: