Linen and wool antique-style rugs have long been an expression of culture, the working class, family, and women.
Women-weavers have played a central role in the creating of rugs and carpets. Trends and techniques of rug-weaving were developed by talented women whose names we do not remember as they have been lost to time.
Why Women Made Rugs
Though city carpet factories did exist and with predominantly male employment, the type of antique rugs that are held up today as the most expensive and luxurious are almost exclusively made by women.
Women worked in villages and tribes orchestrated rug compositions with as much beauty as Mozart, Modigliani, or any artist.
In these villages, rug-making for women is the culture. They took care of their children and maintained the household, dedicating their time in-between to adding knots and elements to carpets and rugs.
These types of linen and wool rugs would be used in the home or sold at a local market. This provides families and women in particular the ability to earn extra money. This sort of work established women as experts in rugs as well.
Who the Most Famous Women in Rug-Making Were
As we mentioned earlier, a lot of the most famous women in rug-making we will never know.
Despite the fact that rugs are highly artistic and expressive, rugs and carpets aren’t treated with the same regard as an artwork one would hang on a wall or a sculpture they may put as a centerpiece in a room.
Women did not sign their rug works nor was there any documentation as to who made what. Needless to say, we do know these women rug-makers were mothers and grandmothers, daughters and wives, and major contributors to the culture in their respective time periods.
To these women whose names are unknown, we pay tribute to their massive contributions to culture through rug-making, rug-weaving, and crafting by hand rugs that are sold today for thousands and which inspire the making of modern linen and wool rugs.
Women Made Carpets Worldwide
Worldwide in history, we see a lot of the same trends in rugs and rug-making. The experts were always women.
In Morocco, women weaved highly decorative rugs and luxurious shag carpets, blending in cultural expressions and symbols with great significance.
In Turkey, women blended in originality that’s not seen in other cultures and actually taught workshops in villages as well as to other women on how to make rugs and carpets for their families.
In Scandinavia, women who made rugs were held in the highest regard and treated with the utmost respect.
Though we associate work and labor with men, this is one thing that women have done throughout history consistently in a more creative and efficient way than any man has. They’re something of a feminist creation – before there was even a ‘feminism’ to believe in.
See a mix of witty, simple rugs inspired by times of old from the team at Artiplanto. In linen and wool, find rugs of various shapes and sizes. Pair them with your home or business and in them, exquisite beauty awaits.