Drapehaus
Hand knotted rugs are made one knot at a time. A weaver ties a short length of yarn around the vertical threads of a loom, cuts it, ties the next, and beats each finished row down against the last. A large carpet holds hundreds of thousands of these knots, sometimes millions, and the time they take is the main reason a hand-knotted carpet costs what it does and lasts as long as it does.
That construction also explains how the rug behaves in a Goan house. Its pile is usually wool, sometimes silk, and its foundation cotton, wool or silk; every one of those fibres takes up moisture from the air. Panjim's morning relative humidity sits at 91 per cent from July to September. A rug that would sit untouched for decades in a dry climate needs a little more thought here.
This article explains how hand-knotted rugs are made and how to read their quality, how wool and silk respond to humidity, and the underlay, rotation, cleaning and monsoon storage that keep them sound. For choosing a rug, see our Persian and hand-knotted rugs collection.
How a hand knotted carpet is made
The loom is strung with warps, the vertical threads that become the fringe at each end. The weaver ties each knot around adjacent warps, cuts the yarn to leave two tufts standing up as pile, and after each row passes one or more wefts across and beats them down with a comb. The pile is later sheared to an even height. Turn a hand-knotted rug over and every knot shows on the back as a small bump, row by row; a machine-made or tufted rug looks quite different underneath.
There are two main knots. The symmetrical knot, often called Turkish, wraps around two warps with both ends of the yarn emerging between them. The asymmetrical knot, often called Persian, wraps fully around one warp and loosely around the next, with the ends emerging on one side. The asymmetrical knot allows finer, more curvilinear drawing; the Victoria and Albert Museum records its Ardabil carpet, completed in 1539 to 1540, as asymmetrically knotted.
The foundation matters as much as the pile. Cotton warps and wefts are strong and stable; wool foundations are common in village and tribal weaving; silk foundations allow the finest knotting and appear in the most refined carpets. The same Ardabil carpet has a white silk warp and weft with a wool pile in ten colours.
Reading knot density in hand knotted rugs
Knot density is the number of knots in a given area, usually quoted as knots per square inch (KPSI) or knots per square decimetre, a 10 by 10 centimetre square. It is counted on the back: count the knots along an inch or ten centimetres horizontally, count the rows vertically, and multiply. The V&A gives the Ardabil carpet an average of 340 knots per square inch, or 5,300 per square decimetre.
Higher density allows finer detail and generally means more labour, but it is not a ranking of quality on its own. A coarsely knotted village rug with excellent wool and natural dyes can be a better rug, and wear better, than a finely knotted one made with poor materials. Nor is density comparable across traditions: a bold tribal design would be pointless at 400 knots per square inch.
The other measures are the quality of the wool, which should feel lively and slightly lustrous rather than dry; the dyes, whether natural or synthetic, and whether colours are clear rather than muddy; the evenness of the knotting and the straightness of the edges; the design's drawing; and condition, including any repairs. A reputable seller should be willing to turn the rug over and talk through all of these.
Knot density tells you about detail and labour. Wool, dyes and condition tell you about the rug.
Planning something like this?
We visit homes across North and South Goa, measure on site, and bring samples to see in your own light.
Wool and silk carpets in humidity
Wool is well suited to a humid house. The Woolmark Company notes that wool can absorb up to 35 per cent of its own weight in moisture before it feels wet, and releases it again as the air dries. That makes a wool rug more comfortable underfoot in the monsoon than a synthetic one, and less likely to feel clammy. The same property means it holds moisture if it is kept on a damp floor or in a closed, unventilated room, and that is when mildew and odour start.
Silk behaves differently. A silk carpet, or silk highlights in a wool rug, gives a sheen and fineness that wool cannot, but silk is more delicate underfoot, marks with water, and shows traffic and crushing more readily. Silk rugs belong in rooms where they are walked on lightly, away from doors to the garden or pool, and ideally in rooms whose humidity is controlled.
Both are protein fibres, which matters for pests. The University of Delaware's conservation programme notes that dermestid beetles, which eat protein fibres, are known to cause significant damage to rugs. Moth and beetle damage tends to start under furniture and in the parts of a rug that are never walked on or vacuumed, which is why regular, gentle cleaning is a form of protection.
Underlay, placement and rotation
A good underlay stops a rug sliding, cushions the knots from being ground against a hard floor, and protects the floor itself. The University of Delaware's guidance notes that a synthetic pad beneath the rug can protect it from abrasion and from staining by wooden floor finishes. In a humid house, choose an underlay that lets air through rather than a solid rubber sheet that traps moisture between rug and tile.
Sun is the other enemy. The same guidance warns that light exposure fades dyes and makes cellulose brittle. Rugs placed in a pool of sunlight from a west-facing door will fade unevenly, and the difference shows as soon as furniture is moved. Sheers, blinds or simply a different position help; our guide to fading and sun damage explains why Goan light is so hard on colour.
Rotating a rug end to end once or twice a year evens out wear from foot traffic and fading from light. Set furniture on cups or pads so its weight is spread, and move it slightly from time to time so the pile beneath is not permanently crushed. In a room of fine wool rugs, it is worth doing all of this on the same day each year.
Cleaning a hand-knotted rug
Regular vacuuming removes the grit that cuts fibres at the base of the pile and the debris that attracts insects. Conservators advise avoiding vacuums with beater attachments, which pull at the knots and fringes; suction alone, on a moderate setting, is gentler. Vacuum the back of the rug and the floor beneath it occasionally too.
Deal with spills straight away: blot, do not rub, and work from the edge of the stain inwards with clean water. Avoid household carpet cleaners, which can shift dyes or leave residues that attract dirt. For anything more than a small spill, and for washing, use a specialist rug cleaner who washes by hand and can dry the rug fully and quickly.
Drying is where humidity bites. The US EPA advises that wet materials dried within 24 to 48 hours will in most cases not grow mould, and a thick wool rug washed at home in July may take far longer than that to dry right through. That is the strongest argument for professional washing in the dry season, after the monsoon has withdrawn.
Monsoon storage for luxury rugs
If the house is closed for the monsoon, a fine rug is usually safer rolled and stored than left on the floor of a shut room. Clean it first, because soiling attracts insects, and make sure it is completely dry. The University of Delaware's guidance is not to fold rugs, because folds become weak points that wear and break, and to roll pile rugs with the pile facing outward, rolling in the direction of the pile so it is not crushed.
Roll around a tube to keep the diameter even, and wrap the roll in washed cotton muslin or acid-free tissue rather than sealing it in plastic, which traps moisture. Store it off the floor, horizontally and supported along its length, in a dry, ventilated room, and unroll it at least once during the season to check for insects and damp.
For owners who are away through the rains, we collect, store and return soft furnishings as part of our monsoon take-down and storage service. Whoever does it, the principles are the same: clean, dry, rolled, wrapped to breathe, and checked. When the rug comes back out, let it lie flat for a few days before furniture goes back on it, and look it over for any sign of damp or insects before the season begins.
