Arteverk · Our Collections
Most rug websites give every collection the same three adjectives and leave you to guess. Ours differ from each other in specific ways — and they are easy to explain once you know that our collections are not all the same kind of thing.
Some are a finish — the same rug, treated differently. Some are a design family — a distinct pattern tradition. Some are a quality tier — a finer weave, a better wool. A single rug can be all three at once. That is why the names overlap, and it is the whole key to reading our catalogue.
The finishes: one rug, three faces
Serenity, Overdye and Onyx start life as the same rug. Underneath each is a hand-knotted rug in our Ziegler, Peshawar, Chobi, Mahal or Sultanabad design tradition — the same wool, the same looms, the same weavers. What separates them is what happens afterwards, in our own finishing plant.
Serenity
That rug given a softer wash. The pattern stays exactly as it was; the colour settles down. It warms a room with hardwood or tile floors instead of fighting it, and it is the reason designers keep coming back to it. Serenity is our largest collection, and it is worth saying plainly: it is a finish, not a lesser rug. Browse Serenity.
Overdye
The same rug overdyed in a single solid colour. The pattern is still there underneath, showing through in a monochrome field. It is the most graphic thing we make. Browse Overdye.
Onyx
The same rug taken through an oxidisation process and then overdyed, producing a distinctive high-and-low effect — depth and shadow across the surface rather than a flat tone. Browse Onyx.
Three collections. One rug underneath. Three decisions made after the loom.
The design families: what the pattern is doing
Artemix is drawn from Ottoman textile design rather than carpet design, and the giveaway is what is missing: Artemix rugs usually have no traditional border. The pattern runs to the edge like a length of cloth. Browse Artemix.
Modcar takes Ottoman textile patterns somewhere else again — geometric and floral motifs with a mid-century, almost Art Deco feel. We began making them in the early 2000s, in hand-spun wool with vegetable dyes, so they carry the same character as a Chobi or Ziegler while looking nothing like one. Browse Modcar.
Khurjeen rugs take their linear, banded patterns from saddlebags. A khorjin is a pair of joined saddlebags, and each pouch carries a framed panel of medallions and geometric motifs — that panel layout, translated to knotted pile at room size, is what a Khurjeen rug is. The form is carried across Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia rather than being specifically Afghan, and the original bags are often flatwoven where ours are hand-knotted. Read the Khurjeen guide · Browse Khurjeen.
Shaal takes its name from the Persian shal — shawl. The patterning descends from classical Persian shawl design, which is the lineage that carries the boteh (paisley) vocabulary, woven here in knotted pile. Browse Shaal.
Heritage is our Persian-design collection, woven in Pakistan — Mahi, Tabriz and Isfahan-style drawing at a very dense knot count. These are reproductions of Persian designs made by our weavers in Pakistan, and we say so on every one.
Revival is the opposite end of the same honesty. Tribal-style rugs woven in Afghanistan, with Bukhara-inspired and tribal shapes. They are a looser weave, and we developed them specifically so that someone shopping online could buy a real hand-knotted rug without spending a great deal. That is what they are for — we would rather tell you than let you work it out from the price.
Humna is the elevated end of the tribal repertoire: Kazak and nomadic patterns taken further, with more depth in the drawing, deeper colour, and premium hand-spun wool and natural dyes. Read the Kazak guide.
Jasmine is our Ziegler weaving in modern colour — teal, blue, terracotta, green, grey — drawn from where interiors are now rather than where they were.
Berjesta is the most unusual thing we make: one strip of hand-knotted pile, then one strip of hand-woven flatweave, alternating across the rug, so the surface sits at two heights and catches light in bands.
Mosaic is our patchwork — separate rugs cut and stitched into one room-size piece. Browse Mosaic.
The quality tiers: where the ladders are
Two of our traditions have an honest ladder inside them, and we would rather name it than blur it.
Ariana is the finest Ziegler, Chobi and Peshawar-style weaving we produce — a higher knot count and a much finer wool, drawn from traditional Persian, Sultanabad and Tabriz patterns. It is rare and made in very small batches, and it is what people specify when a rug has to carry a room. Browse Ariana.
Silk Tane is our masterpiece tier: very fine Afghan wool-and-silk rugs in tribal Afghan patterns, made in tiny numbers.
The traditional Afghan rugs run Beljik, then Khamyab, then Khal Mohammadi — finest to entry. All three share the deep reds and blues those rugs are known for; what changes is the fineness. More on Afghan rugs.
The Kazaks run Super Kazak, then Afzali Kazak — same patterns, one step apart in weave count.
Most sellers use these names interchangeably. They are not interchangeable, and knowing the order is the difference between choosing a rug and being sold one.
One honest note about colour
If a soft, faded palette is what draws you to a rug, it is worth knowing that softness is a decision, not an accident. Ours are washed and sun-finished in our own plant until the colour settles where we want it — days or weeks depending on the rug and the season.
That is not a modern shortcut either. When Ziegler & Co. began organising this weaving in Sultanabad in the 1870s and 80s, they were already muting the colours deliberately for Western rooms.1 The soft rug has been a made thing for a hundred and forty years. We just prefer to say so. Read the Ziegler guide.
1 Encyclopædia Iranica, "CARPETS xi. Qajar Period" · Ittig, A., "Ziegler's Sultanabad Carpet Enterprise," Iranian Studies 25(1–2), 1992.