Tufted: A Brief History of the Carpet

I wanted to get into the nitty gritty this time around. Let’s talk about the history of carpets– it’s a long one. The first carpets that were preserved enough to trace history were discovered in the Middle East. Archaeologists discovered their use to be the same as it is today, for comfortability and a place to sit on. There is one carpet that stands out historically as possibly the oldest recorded and it’s the Pazyryk carpet, its origin to be known from 2,000 or 3,000 B.C. The story of the Pazyryk holds a rich history of a Scythian Prince whose tomb was discovered in the Pazyryk Valley of Siberia by Russian Archeologist Sergei Rudenko in the 1940’s (I’d argue Mr. Rudenko didn’t know the rule to not disturb old tombs).

To our luck, the tomb was frozen and therefore preserved, thanks to robbers of the time who left it open as they fled the scene. What was unearthed was a record of the Achaemenid Empire; within the fibers stories were told of the Scythian people as marvelous horsemen with an expansive empire from Eastern Europe to Western Asia. There are depictions of griffins, deer and riders on horseback. Carpets were a mode of story-telling, conserving the tales of the past for the minds of the future.

The United States had its own carpet genesis in 1791 with William P. Sprague. Sprague started his first carpet mill in the sweet spot of Philadelphia. He had the pleasure of making the carpet for the Senate and for the residence of the president at the time, George Washington. Sprague began the trend of mill popularity as several other mills opened their doors in the early 1800’s in New England.

Innovation continued when inventor Erastus Bigelow created the first power loom to weave carpets in 1839. This exact loom can be located in the Smithsonian Institution. After this invention, the carpet industry shifted and transformed the process– carpets could be made faster, doubling its time and by 1850 the speed had tripled. Inventions didn't stop sprouting from the genius of Bigelow. After receiving 35 patents, he introduced the first broadloom carpet in the late 1870s.

Let me fast forward to a closer time. At the turn of the century, Catherine Evans Whitener created the popular process of Turfin, helping families survive the turbulence of the Great Depression and giving Dalton, Georgia (her hometown) the name of “The Carpet Capital of the World”.

In a research initiative conducted by the National Wood Flooring Association, it was reported that around 75% of homeowners have carpet installed in their living spaces. How did we get here? The main type of carpet we see now is machine-woven tufted. “Tufted” essentially means the carpet is produced by injecting the pile into a backing material, versus a woven or knotted method. Tufted carpets were first made in the early 20th century and were popularized in the late 1950s. This popularity was due to the magic of mechanization and cheaper production costs; this gave us accessibility. The invention of the electric vacuum cleaner allowed the choice of immovable carpets to become increasingly prominent. Here we are!

Carpets were once a luxury, exclusive to those only with the most wealth. Now, we see carpets in many households, with some homeowners wishing to remove it completely (we stay on top of the trends). From sustaining its lush appearance to pulling it away from a hidden floor, T.C. Carpet Care is here for all your carpet needs.

– AZ

Sources:

Avalon Flooring, "History of Carpet".

Hardwood Floor Magazine, "Today's Savvy Consumer".