Oriental Rugs | Timeless Beauty That Brings Your Home’s Spaces Together
Oriental rugs offer a unique style that instantly feels like home, regardless of your property’s existing aesthetics!
If you’re having fun exploring our vast selection of Oriental rugs, then you’re already on the right path toward incorporating a décor style that’ll be a staple in your home for many years to come.
There’s a reason why Oriental rugs have remained popular for generations, because they offer an incredible balance of color, structure, and craftsmanship that simply can’t be beat anywhere else in the world.
These rugs are known for their rich tones and intricate patterns, but all of us at Rug Source believe that what really sets them apart is how they seamlessly anchor any room. Whether your home leans more traditional, modern or somewhere in between, a new Oriental rug will just work—with no overthinking necessary!
Why Oriental Rugs Are A Smart Choice For Your Home
- Specifically Designed To Pull Rooms Together: Creating décor cohesion is often a big challenge in home styling, and Oriental rugs can instantly resolve this common dilemma by featuring a central motif that guides the eye, defines your space, and makes everything else look more polished.
- Craftsmanship You Can See & Feel: Oriental rugs differ vastly from their mass-produced counterparts by being rooted in timeless weaving techniques. It’s easy to see the differences in detail, texture, and overall presence when your room has a rug with true character—and not just another basic, cookie-cutter design.
- Rich Designs That Add Depth To Any Space: Oriental rugs are known for their incredibly intricate patterns and layering details that provide visual interest that’s not too overwhelming. Instead of competing with your other décor elements, Oriental rug patterns will add dimension, complement furniture, and create a sense of balance in your space.
- Beautiful Colors That Work With Any Home Design: From navy blues and deep reds to softer neutral hues, our vast collection of Oriental rugs has been uniquely curated to blend beautifully with a wide variety of interiors. This unparalleled flexibility is a huge reason why Oriental rugs remain such a reliable choice for today’s rug shoppers!
The Perfect Fit For Modern Living
It’s safe to say that Oriental rugs come with a long history, but they’re also far from outdated. This rug style actually just so happens to help make modern spaces feel much more inviting, which is why many of today’s professional decorators are embracing an effective mix of old-world details and modern simplicity.
Everyone in today’s Digital Age knows how trends quickly come and go, but Oriental rugs have held a lasting appeal because they’re capable of evolving alongside your personal style shifts.
This incredible décor versatility is why it’s easy to invest in Oriental rugs with the utmost confidence!
Trust Your Instincts, Because You’re Choosing Well
We understand how online rug shopping can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming, which is why we’re always more than happy to simplify your decision by helping you focus on Oriental rug styles.
You’re choosing a style that’s known around the entire world for its durability, beauty, and an overall ability to bring every décor piece in a room together.
So, if you’re drawn toward this look, it’s a sign that you have a strong home design eye!
The Perfect Oriental Rug Is Waiting & The Rug Source Team Is Here To Help!
The perfect Oriental rug for your home won’t just fill up space, because it’ll undoubtedly transform your room in a way that adds structure, warmth, and a true sense of completeness that can’t be replicated with any other rug style.
All of us at Rug Source are incredibly proud to offer our renowned collection of Oriental rugs for shoppers far and wide, and our specialists are here when you have questions or need help discovering the piece that perfectly fits your style.
Reach out to us online or give us a call at 980-422-4080 to get in touch with us today and discover the Oriental rug that’s right for you and your home!
An oriental rug is a hand-knotted or hand-woven rug made in countries across Asia and the Middle East — including Iran, Turkey, India, Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, and Nepal. They're known for intricate patterns, natural materials like wool and silk, and weaving techniques passed down across generations.
Authentic oriental rugs are hand-knotted, not machine-made. Flip the rug over — you should see the same pattern on the back as the front, with visible individual knots. Genuine oriental rugs also have slight irregularities in pattern and color (proof of handwork), real wool or silk pile, and fringe that's an extension of the rug's structure, not sewn on.
KPSI (knots per square inch) measures how finely a rug is woven. Higher KPSI generally means more intricate detail and greater durability. Tribal designs may have 80–150 KPSI; fine Persian city rugs can have 400–1,000+ KPSI. Match the knot density to the design — intricate floral patterns need higher KPSI, while geometric tribal patterns don't.
Vacuum regularly without using a beater bar (which damages the pile), rotate every 6–12 months for even wear, and blot spills immediately with a clean white cloth — never rub. For deep cleaning, use a professional rug cleaner experienced with hand-knotted oriental rugs every 3–5 years. Avoid harsh chemicals and machine washing.
Yes. A quality rug pad prevents slipping, protects your floors, reduces wear on the rug, and adds comfort underfoot. It also extends the life of your oriental rug by absorbing impact from foot traffic.
A well-made, hand-knotted oriental rug can easily last 50 to 100+ years with proper care. Many families pass them down for multiple generations. Quality of materials, knot density, and ongoing maintenance are the biggest factors in longevity.
Our oriental rugs are sourced directly from skilled weavers in countries with deep weaving traditions — including Iran, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, and Morocco. Each rug comes with origin and material details on its product page.
Gabbeh Rugs are Part of a Rich Persian Tradition
The traditional Gabbeh Persian carpet – known as gava in Kurdish and Luri and called khersak in Bakhtiari – is a simple, hand-woven pile rug traditionally made by the nomadic Qashqai tribes who dwelled in the Zagros Mountains of southern Iran, near the city of Shiraz. Other tribes, such as the Lurs, the Kurds and the Bahktiari also weave these carpets.
In Persian, the word “Gabbeh” means “fringe” or “in the rough.” Gabbeh rugs are rough cut and long piled rugs of rich color and the best quality wool. Most Gabbeh carpets are medium size – up to 3’ x 5’ – and feature abstract designs where shapes and color dance playfully with one another.
Variations of the gabbeh rug – such as the “Loribaft”, “Amaleh”, “Kashkuli” – may reflect the heritage of the tribe by which they are woven or the name of the city in which they are most often traded, such as “a Shiraz Gabbeh.”
The 19th century gabbeh rugs were very coarsely knotted (40kpi or less), often with shaggy pile. The name of Gholam Reza Zollanvari is synonymous with modern Gabbeh rugs. Zollanvari learned the rug business from his grandfather, a merchant in the Shirazi rug bazaar. Zollanvari pioneered the construction of fine-weave gabbehs with knot counts of 200+ kpi. Today, Zollanvari rugs are among the most popular styles of Persian rugs.
The Making of a Gabbeh Rugs: A Craft Shared Across Generations
Most Gabbeh carpets are made by women, and many are one-of-a-kind works of art. Some patterns are passed down thru the generations as mothers and grandmothers teach their daughters the art of Persian rug making. Many patterns reflect the weaver’s observations of the environments through which the tribe has passed. Some rugs are even made by the hands of many weavers.
Traditional Gabbeh rugs were woven on makeshift ground looms. These looms are built with materials are carried long distances by the nomadic tribes, or materials found where the tribe settled. Since each loom is unique, each rug is unique; this is how Gabbeh rugs get their distinctive irregular in shape.
Woven with the Wool of Mountain Sheep
Gabbeh rugs are woven from high quality wool from the tribe’s own sheep. As the tribe herds its sheep over hundreds of miles, the nomads reach high altitudes. In the summers, they stay in the highland pastures north of Shiraz in the Zargos Mountains; by winter they sojourn to pasture lands near the Persian Gulf. Sheep grazed in high altitudes produce more lanolin, giving their wool a luxurious softness and resistance to stain.
Rich, Colorful Dyes Give Gabbeh Carpets a Remarkable Color
The Qashqai people find the dyes used in Gabbeh carpets or purchase them in towns where they trade their finished carpets. Often, they use all-natural vegetable dyes to give the wool vibrant color while retaining its lanolin.
Hand-Knotted Rugs with Turkish Symmetrical Knots and Persian Asymmetrical Knots
Most of the wool used in the construction of Gabbeh rugs is handspun using a drop spindle. After the wool has been dyed and handspun, the weaver uses the loom to hand-knot the rug using Turkish symmetrical knots or Persian asymmetrical knots, or even a combination of the two. Because the all the Qashqai tribes use both types of knots, it is difficult to tell from which individual tribe any one rug has come from.
Gabbeh Rugs Are Small – Often Just 3’ x 5’ in Size
A typical size for a Gabbeh carpet is 3 feet by 5 feet. It can take 18 to 25 hours to weave even a small Gabbeh rug. Tribal Gabbeh rugs usually have lower knot counts compared to other types of Persian carpet. This low knot count and the high quality of wool makes Gabbeh rugs famous for their exceptional durability.
Durable Floor Coverings, Wraps and Bedding to Protect from the Mountain Cold
Gabbeh rugs are often floppy because they have wider rows of multiple wefts. This made the soft, pliable rugs ideal as wraps or bedding to insulate against the bitter cold of the mountains.
Gabbeh rugs are often not symmetrical due to the nomadic lifestyle of their creators, and color variations within a rug are common. Often, the variation in color in a rug tells a story of the tribe’s migration, the climates and environments it encountered, and the tribe members who contributed to its creation.
Where to Buy Gabbeh Rugs
Unless you plan to travel to Iran to shop for Gabbeh rugs in the marketplace, we’d suggest buying a Gabbeh rug online from RugSource.com or visiting our showroom. We’re proud to bring these highly coveted rugs to you – please contact us if you’d like to know more.