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Susan Schwartz

Hundreds of years ago, shepherds began knotting wool into heavy woven cloth. These early rugs were purely functional – protecting nomadic tribes from having to walk on bare earth in their shelters.
These days, rugs and carpets are used as quasi works-of-art to highlight and complement stylish homes. Costing upwards of HK$250,000, they are often a luxurious addition to modern décor.
Choosing a rug requires careful planning – for style, design, colour and placement.
“The best way to incorporate a rug in the room is to have it sit under the furniture,” says Janis Provisor of Fort Street Studio. “In this way, it sets the stage for the furniture, serving as a platform for the design.”
She says it is popular in larger homes to have rugs that act like runners, creating a visual connection and flow between rooms.
“These can also change the mood from one part of the house to the other,” Provisor says.

She says rectangular rugs remain the most popular shape as most rooms are designed that way. But Fort Street Studio offers custom-made rugs that are circular, oval and square in shape.
“We've found over time that we sell larger and larger pieces, and our most popular in-stock size is 9x12 feet,” she adds. “But we do an enormous amount of custom sizes of up to 20 feet or more.”
Provisor says her shop’s signature collection is wild silk, but they are working with other fibres, mixing hemp, wool, aloe and silk together in various ways.
“Sometimes we tweed the fibres before knotting and sometimes we use the materials in separate areas to create a different visual impact,” she notes.
Tweeding the fibres refers to the mix of fibres used in the spun yarn.  Depending on how coarse or fine a knotted rug is, each knot will comprise several strands of yarn.  If you are going after textural differences, the strand of yarn can mix threads of different fibres rather than one fibre.  It can also be done with colour to create a colour transition. This is called mixed knotting.
“We are always working with our producers to come up with innovative ways to spin and different kinds of knotting to create unusual textures,” Provisor says.

So what factors should people consider when buying a rug? “The first of course is pattern and style, and how it works with the rest of the room design,” she says. “They also need to consider if the carpet will provide the drama of the room or be a quiet adjunct to the rest of the design.”
Provisor says an equally important consideration is the quality of the weaving, the "feel" of the yarn used, and in a Tibetan/Nepalese hand-knotted carpet, to make sure the knotting is crossed.
“Many producers save time now by not crossing the knots, which makes for faster production but not great long-term durability,” Provisor says.
The move from purely traditional to modern style occurred several years ago. “In fact, the pendulum has swung back of late to a new kind of traditional,” she says. Fort Street Studio has a collection of what it calls "new traditional" which draw on old motifs.
“The carpet design world now encompasses many ideas and design concepts, and no longer is just the tribal or oriental rugs,” Provisor adds.
Good quality rugs don’t come cheap. “It's hard to say what our most expensive rug is because we don't sell our carpets that way,” Provisor says. “All our carpets are sold by a square-foot price, and we offer standard sizes from 6x9 feet to 10x14 feet.”
Provisor says her most expensive rug per square foot is the “Toll” design in the special Luxe edition. A normal standard size 9x12 feet will cost about HK$ 268,920.

Billie Wong, business development manager at Tai Ping Carpets, says rugs can complement a room in terms of decor or by making a statement. “Their purpose also can be functional, including to absorb sound, create warmth or simply an area where your children can freely play,” Wong says.
Wong adds rugs need not be used on floors. “Lately, we have received more inquiries about rugs being displayed on a wall like an ‘art’ piece or tapestry,” he says.
He says Tai Ping is always trying to be innovative in terms of spinning different yarns, such as wool and flax, wool and silk, or using yarns such as spun silk lacet.
“Designs and colours this year for Tai Ping have been more fluid and abstract, like a painting or fabric texture, with a play on more vibrant and happy colours,” Wong says.
Popular styles range from designs with many dimensions or levels, to abstracts.  “We will also see carpet designs that are very textural like fabric,” he says. 
Wong says people first need to decide the purpose of buying a rug – whether it is a stylish statement piece or purely for function? Once that decision is made, it is much easier to help clients to decide on the material, design and weight.

“Usually, it takes a long time to decide, as many people cannot visualise what a rug will look like in their home. “Therefore, it ends up being last on the list. We try and persuade clients to work in parallel or choose the rug first, then work on the curtains, sofas and cushions to complement the rug,” he says.
Should people go for machine or handmade rugs? “Machine made is more affordable, but there are limitations to design patterns and the yarns used,” he says. “Expensive handmade normally leads to more complex designs and more refined yarns like silks or bamboo.”
Yosi Tal, managing director of Designer Rugs, says tastes are constantly changing.“Dhurries or flatweaves have come back into vogue, while organic designs with an Abrash have been very strong,” Tal says.
	Tal says before buying a rug people should “take a few home and try them in the space”.


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