London is one of the worlds premier centres for old and antique Oriental rugs and carpets. Mainly due to her important ties with Persia and her outposts during the time of the British Empire, in particular India, London soon became known throughout the world as the place to purchase fine oriental rugs and carpets. Take a look inside any of Britain's grand houses or stately homes and you will find an eclectic mix of Oriental rugs and carpets from many parts of the rug and carpet producing world. Today London's Oriental rug and carpet warehouses are still an important centre and a tour around them is a wonder to behold.

Originally all dyes used in Oriental rug and carpet weaving were made from animal and vegetable substances. The wild madder root is most often used in rug and carpet production resulting in various shades of red. Blues are obtained from the Indigo plant, and yellow dyes from Milkwort (Isperek) or Saffron Crocus and vine leaves. Black colours are made from mixing henna with Indigo or by using logwood (brazilwood) combined with ferrous sulphate. unfortunately ferrous sulphate is corrosive resulting in the wool being eaten away, which is why many old and antique rugs and carpets have an embossed look.

The Holy Persian city of Qum lies 97 miles south west of Tehran. Qum has been an important theological centre for Shia Islam since the early sixteenth century. Despite not having a long history of weaving, Qum has secured its position as Iran's premier producer of silk rugs and carpets. Famous for their soft pastel colours and fine weaving, Qum's rugs and carpets are now world famous and highly prized.

These rugs are made by a section of the tribe which lives a semi-nomadic life between Shiraz and Kerman. There are two other smaller Afshar groups, one near Bijar and the other near lake Urmia. The Afshar tribe was among those listed as the clans of Turkoman Oghuz in the eleventh century by Mahmud Kashghari. Nadir Shar who was Shar of Iran from 1736 to 1747 was an Afshar. Afshar rugs are highly respected and collectable, and are distinctive in both design and weave.

David Wilkins has been guiding his clients around London's oriental rug warehouses for over 35 years. Now run by his son Alex, who has been in the business for more than 20 years, we escort our customers around the maze of London's wholesale oriental rug warehouses. London is still one of the worlds  biggest centres for oriental rug and carpets from Persia (Iran), India, Pakistan and many other rug producing country's. So why not make an appointment to view the huge selection in London's wholesale oriental rug and carpet warehouses.

With the US trade embargo on all Iranian goods, coupled with the current economic situation, Persian carpets and rugs can represent excellent value for money. Costing less than a good quality fitted carpet it should retain some value and last for generations. London's wholesale oriental rug and carpet warehouses are still full of beautiful Persian rugs and carpets which can purchased for much less than you may have imagined.

Rugs and carpets woven by tribe's and villages are usually woven from traditional designs that are entrenched in memory, but for the much finer Persian city weaves the designs are first drawn and later painted onto graph paper. These are known as cartoons or naghsheh in Persian. Each square of the graph paper represents one knot of the rug or carpet.

These were  at one time known as Armenian dragon carpets and are the earliest surviving Caucasian weaves. Opinion differs on their age, some experts place them as early as the thirteenth century but could be no earlier than the sixteenth century. Most of the dragon Kuba rugs and carpets seem to come from the area of the Caucasus known as Karabagh or even eastern Anatolia, but it seems likely that there were manufactured by the Armenian people.

At least two different weave patterns are known as Bakhtiari rugs and carpets. One is woven by the Bakhtiari tribe who live in the Zagros Mountains in central west Iran. The other come from the Chahar Mahal region which is a little further south. A number of villages in this area weave the distinctive Bakhtiari designs. The Bakhtiari rugs and carpets are renowned for the famous garden design, a geometric pattern depicting panel's incorporating trees and plants divided by irrigation channels. The best quality Bakhtiari rugs and carpets are known in the trade as Bibibaff.

The name is applied to the geometric style of Turkish rugs and carpets woven from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. The name was acquired from Hans Holbein the younger, who frequently depicted rugs and carpets in his paintings. It is believed these rugs and carpets were produced in the Bergama and Ushak areas of western Anatolia.