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The year was 1928. The first loom was produced by Marshall Field, the American textile manufacturer and retailer that was capable of producing a woven rug. Karastan first introduced its machine-made carpets known as “Mystery Rugs”, the counterpart to the hand-made rugs. The machine technology was so advanced that Karastan put one rug up to a considerable challenge.

In the World’s Fair in 1933-1934, Karastan created a larger version of the Kirman pattern. During the display of the new rug, they let people walk across the rug, showing how easily the new Karastan could be cleaned. The rug came out perfect, amazing all who witnessed it.

These days there are many different styles of rugs as well as carpet made by Karastan. You also have many textures to decide from when purchasing a rug. You can go either with loop or cut piles, or both combined, berber, and even shag. You also have the luxury to choose the size which best fits your needs depending on the room size. There are several different choices these days depending on which brands you are looking for. Metropolitan, Carriage House, Sierra Mar, Antique Legends, Samovar, Ashara, English Manor, and Cabo del Sol are the top collection brands you’ll see around.

Karastan has continued to conduct research and innovate. Three new varieties of Karastan were born. SisalWool was created in 1992 to tap into the love of sisal. The problem with sisal was that the look appealed to consumers. At the same time, sisal was not pleasing to the touch and it stained easily. Karastan made a carpet with sisal’s texture and aesthetics, but incorporated the stain resistance, soft feel, and durability of wool. Pure New Zealand wool was woven through the back for long lasting performance and appearance maintenance. The Sisal Wool styles include Agave, Belize, Corvera and Zanzibar.

Following up in 1997, there was an extra step to the finishing of the rug named TeaWash. This would make the finish of the wool look antique patina instead of glossy. Also trying new shades of greens, gold’s and indigo, which created what is called the “abrash” look. This will give the Karastan the appearance of being older.

While in 2006 the Shapura was introduced. With this design you will notice that it may have a more traditional look, but also grabs up some great color to go into some of the interiors around now. They do this by taking the yarns and add in peaches, or light olive green even. This collection of rugs are very detailed, and give a bit of a worn look, this comes from some luster wash. Also named the “Peshawar”, this has a hand tie production.

Karastan are great rug choices especially since they are made on machines and have the appearance of a hand-made rug. They will always be the leaders of quality rugs since many new designs were introduced to us. You couldn’t go wrong by purchasing a Karastan carpet or rug.

This Home Decorating article is written by Abigail Foster from HouseofAreaRugs.com – your authorized floor rug store for flokati area rugs.