Knot Count

Is apparently bunk when it comes to determining the quality of a rug - at least according to Orley & Shabahang - a fabulously luxurious rug company that makes incredibly beautiful Persian carpets - and not just Persian 'style' carpets. I mean the real deal - made by hand in the small villages of Iran where the craft of carpet weaving has been passed on from generation to generation for hundreds of years. And what makes this company special, aside from their lovely collection of antique carpets, is their collection of new traditional and contemporary Persian carpets, all made from the wool of the sheep they raise and herd, dyed by hand, with only vegetable dyes, effectively making this operation a very 'green' endeavour.

I was recently introduced to this company during a trip to NYC and was lucky enough to peruse their inventory in their 58th St. showroom, and was highly impressed. What I loved was the natural and inherent quality apparent in each of their rugs. The sheen of an all wool carpet was astounding, and the fine lines of their silk patterns and binding along the edge of the rugs, the variety of styles and intricacies of design, and lastly, the irreverence for the typical buzz words like knot count all got my attention. According to Geoff Orley, determining the quality of a rug by the number of knots per square inch is like determining the quality of a painting by the number of brush strokes per square inch - it's irrelevant because it's the technique that matters.

And here are some of the designs from their contemporary collection, all designed and signed by Mr. Shabahang himself. And regardless of which style you choose, they're all customizable.