The origin of the wool used for carpets

The origin of the wool used for carpets

The Asian fat-tailed sheep produces a wool that is particularly suitable for carpets because it contains a mixture of long and short fibres.

The quality of this wool varies according to the age of the animal, the location of the body, the living conditions of the animal and, of course, the period during which the shearing takes place.

The finest wool is found on the lambs of the year that are sheared in the fall. The wool around the lamb's neck is called "kork wool" and is used for particularly fine and precious carpets.

It is also important to know that sheep living at high altitudes have more wool fat, which in turn gives a shinier and brighter wool. In Iran, nomads raise huge herds of sheep and the country is almost self-sufficient in wool.

Other countries, such as Pakistan, import a large part of their wool from Australia or New Zealand. The most important material for carpet making is undoubtedly sheep's wool. After shearing, the wool is sorted into different qualities, then cleaned and washed.

This is where carding comes in to arrange the wool and untangle the fibres. Carding can be done by machine, but in villages and nomadic camps, it is still done by hand.

In the countryside, an Iranian woman is spinning wool. The spinning will be more or less tight depending on the future use of the yarn: warp, weft or velvet.

In Iran, much of the spinning is still done by hand, most often on a spinning wheel, but nomadic women continue to use a traditional spindle to spin wool to make wool carpets and clothes.

In countries such as China and Pakistan, almost all carpets are made from machine spun yarn.