How a hand-knotted rug is made
A Tabriz is built on the loom one row at a time: the warps are strung, the design is read off a cartoon, and every knot is tied by hand around a pair of threads. The model below runs through all seven stages. Drag to turn it, scroll to zoom, and step through at your own pace.
A real 10 by 13 foot Tabriz at around 330 knots per square inch holds roughly six million knots. That is the number worth holding on to when a rug is described as hand-knotted, and it is why washing one is a different job from cleaning a carpet.
Why it matters when the rug needs cleaning
Everything in the model is wool and cotton, tied rather than glued. There is no backing holding it together, which is why a hand-knotted rug can be washed right through and a machine-made one often cannot. It is also why the ends and edges are the first things to go: they are the foundation, not decoration.