Rug Types
Chinese Rugs
Open fields, generous negative space, and pile that is often sculpted or carved around the motifs to give physical relief.
Identification
How to tell
The carving is distinctive — run a hand across and you can feel the outline of the pattern cut into the pile. Colour schemes lean to soft blues, ivories and golds against uncluttered ground.
Method
How we clean chinese rugs
Open ivory fields show everything, so pre-treatment matters more here than on a busy pattern that hides soil. Carved relief also traps grit in the cut channels, which needs to be lifted out before washing rather than driven deeper by it.
Common Damage
What goes wrong
Yellowing of ivory grounds with age and light, and flattening of the carved relief when a rug has been cleaned with a rotary machine that crushes the sculpted edges.