What are hand-woven, hand-hooked, hand-tufted, and hand-knotted rugs and how do they differ?
Hand–woven is a generic term that covers all of the terms and can be a misleading as each term is distinctly different in manufacture, quality, and price. Hand–hooked rugs have yarn which has been looped and attached to a grid. A layer of glue and sometimes canvas is placed on the back to hold everything in place. Hand–hooked is similar except the tips of the loops are cut and shaved to a flat, even surface. The disadvantage of these two styles is that the glue can begin to stink, they can unravel, and they have little to no resale value. Hand–knotted rugs use no glue and are made by tightly knotting yarn by hand to a grid. These are the highest quality and can sometimes last over 100 years. They are usually very expensive as they take much longer to make.
