Hand-Knotted vs Machine-Made Rugs: An Expert's Guide to Making the Right Investment
In this episode of the Interior Design Toronto podcast, we dive deep into the world of hand-knotted rugs with Kasra Rahimi of Kasra Rugs.
Kasra is a respected GTA Persian rug specialist who brings two generations of expertise to our growing library of GTA home design resources. If you've ever wondered why hand-knotted Persian rugs command their prices - and whether they're worth the investment compared to machine-made alternatives - my conversation with Kasra Rahimi offers clear, practical answers.
Our discussion breaks down the fascinating craft of hand-knotted rugs, explores the real differences in quality and longevity between hand-knotted and machine-made options, and provides Toronto homeowners with concrete guidance for making informed decisions. Whether you're actively shopping for a hand-knotted Persian rug or planning future home upgrades, you'll gain valuable insights about assessing quality, understanding true value, and choosing the right vendor in the Greater Toronto market.
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Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:44 The Kasra Rugs origin story
02:15 Persian Rugs
03:00 Handmade vs Machine Made Rugs
03:25 Not all Hand Made Rugs are Created Equal
07:00 Maintenance of Hand Knotted Rugs
07:55 Modern Architecture
09:23 Counterfeit Rugs
12:43 Pricing
14:10 The Future of Hand Knotted Persian Rugs
15:27 Shopping for Your Hand Knotted Rug
16:50 How to Shop for a Custom Hand Knotted Rug
20:15 Common Misconceptions
20:56 Washable Rugs / Trendy Rugs
22:00 The New Generation
22:42 Pricing
24:42 Outro
Read the transcript…
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: So can you share with me the story of Kasra rugs and what inspired you to specialize in hand knotted Persian rugs?
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Yeah, for sure. So my mom and dad started the business in 1992. They had moved here from Iran in the late 80s and they lived with my mom's cousin when they first came to Canada and her husband was in the rug business. So it was some work for my Dad. Just a way to kind of get started. He didn't work in the rug industry before they, before they moved here. So he would work, they would work together and he kind of learned about it then eventually he ended up working at a shop which was in Thornhill. It was called Aban A B A N.
A lot of the shop owners now at one point or another, they also work there. So he kind of rose up the ranks there. I think he was like the shop manager at one point. And one day he went to the owner, he said, hey, you know, I'm. Because he was pretty close with the owner and he said, hey, I'm thinking of starting my own thing.
So yeah, the shop owner, you know, gave him as well wishes, said, no problem, you should do it. And that's kind of how it started. My, my Dad, he got my mom to help him out. They got their own place in Richmond Hill. And we were, we were in that location actually for over 30 years. So yeah, we just moved down the street a few months ago. We moved about like two minutes down the street. So we've been in the same area ever since then. That's kind of how it all started.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: So I assume everybody has an idea of what a Persian rug is and probably a lot of them, myself included, are wrong. What makes a Persian rug Persian? Obviously the geography, but other than that, and, and specifically a handmade Persian rug, if you could differentiate between that and a machine made one.
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Correct, for sure. I get that question actually a lot of the time from clients. So you nailed it. The first thing is it has to be from Iran to actually call it a Persian rug because we have, you know, Persian designs and things like that. And you have to be careful. It's just, it's good to know it has. So it has to come from Iran and, and a lot of countries make rugs.
India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, they, they make beautiful rugs. But if someone's telling you you're buying a Persian rug, it should be made in Iran. The main thing with a Handmade rug versus machine made is it's a lot harder to make a handmade rug. They're a lot more durable. Machine made rugs are basically, they're mass produced.
So, and there's nothing wrong with that, but there should be a big difference in price. You shouldn't be paying much for a machine made rug.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: Okay, so let's say I was out shopping and how could I. Is there a way to tell the difference between a higher quality handmade Persian rug and possibly a lower one? What should I look for?
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Yeah, so the main thing, the first thing you want to look for, you flip the rug on its back, look at the back side, you'll be able to see all the individual knots. The smaller the knots, the more workmanship and typically the price goes up.
Now, any handmade rug is good. Any hand knotted rug is very good. But the ones that cost a bit more typically have we say knots per square inch, Smaller knots, more finely woven, more knots per square inch. It's almost like looking at the pic or describing the pixels on a tv, how it has a sharper image. That's one analogy I always use. It's very similar in that way.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: That's funny, I was thinking that. Exactly. I was like, that sounds like, sounds like my tv. How many pixels, Right? Exactly. Yeah, same thing. So another thing when I'm searching for my last TV was brand name as well. Right.
So size of the tv, number of pixels, and then there's brand name. So I assume you probably source your rugs from the same people, companies all the time. You're not trying out new people like I assume, typically.
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Yeah, because we've been working with the same families for like, for decades now in Iran, in India, Pakistan. So we trust them, we know what they have. So when it comes to Persian rugs, it's not so much brand names, it's more each region in Iran has their own style, their own color, their own motif.
So we kind of source from each region and they each kind of have their own quality. So something from one city will have, you know, typically their rugs are a certain number of knots per square inch versus another city. So we are another region or province. So we kind of source from all around.
And like you said, typically we're working with the same families over there.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: Okay. And you mentioned in comparison to a machine made rug, the, the durability, can you go into that? Like I, I, my, my parents had a hand knotted Persian rug when I was a kid that they got from my grandmother and they had it for the longest time like in. And it ended up going, my brother has it now. But I mean it's, it's the kind of thing that you can passed down from generation to generation. And that is like a completely mind blowing concept if someone who just bought a machine built rug.
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Exactly. That's the main thing. You're getting quality, you're getting durability.
There's a common misconception where, you know, some clients who are a bit new to it, and I love having these conversations with them where they think, you know, it's luxurious, we can't, we can't step on it, we can't walk on it. And I tell them no, it's, it's the opposite. These things were. They're made to be used, they're made to be walked on. They'll last for decades. Generations versus machine made rugs.
And there's nothing wrong with it. They don't wear quite as well. They're more kind of use it, you know, every certain amount of years you kind of throw it, you get a new one. If you do have, let's say pets or little kids, if there's an act, you know, spill stains, they don't do as well as a handmade rug.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: Yeah. That actually kind of described my mother, how she treated it, how, you know, as kids, me and my brother, we were not allowed on it. Oh, definitely not. And definitely not. If like one of us had a beverage or something in our hand, it was like, you stay off of that. Because she knew how much it cost when it was, when it was bought at first.
And she's like, you had to treat a certain way and she looked after it. So that's another question I had is how do you, how do you care for, for a hand knotted Persian rug or how should you care for how.
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: It's actually pretty simple. You just have to vacuum it. You vacuum it, you know, once a week is great. You can even vacuum it once a month. Depends on the person, depends on the usage. It's really simple because they hold up so, so well. I mean if you spill something on it, you basically, it's the same thing. You dab a little. Sorry. You put a little bit of water exactly where you spilled, let's say coffee, wine.
You just put a little bit of water on it and you dab it or blot it with. It could be a paper towel or a, even just a regular towel, a cloth and usually it comes right out. Most of it would come right out. And then if you ever do get it cleaned professionally, which you should look at doing at some point. Regardless. It'll be, it'll look brand new again.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: Okay, cool. Switching tacks slightly. Lots of homeowners will have different styles to their home. And I'm trying to picture somebody with a very modern home. Can a Persian rug fit into that type of environment or is it really, stylistically, do you see people doing that?
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Yeah, I see people doing that. People are going to think I'm biased. I think it's an excellent choice with modern homes. I'd say, you know, out of 10 clients with modern homes, eight of them probably want a modern rug. But we have, we do have some clients that they have a modern home.
And I'm, I'm always pleasantly surprised when they want a Persian rug. I'm like, okay, nice. Because genuinely. My two cents. Persian rugs look excellent in modern homes. They add a bit, you know, a bit of color. They add a bit more, a bit of character, I think, with the light colors, with the light finishes, light floors.
It's so nice when you can just put in something with a bit of a color or a pattern.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: Yeah. Something completely different than, than the rest of their look.
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Yeah, exactly. Some of that kind of stands out a bit and it doesn't have to stand out too much or be too overpowering. But I don't know. I find we sell all types of rugs, not just Persian rugs. Our main thing is handmade hand knotted rugs. So I have modern rugs. I do custom rugs. Again, to each their own. Just sometimes when everything kind of blends in and sometimes it's nice to have something that stands out at least a little bit. Like a conversation piece.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: Yeah. Something unique. In preparing for our chat, I did a ton of googling and found that there is such a thing as counterfeit hand knotted rugs. I assume that means they're not hand knotted at all, but they're done in a way or maybe they're just sold in a way. They're sold to people who are unsuspecting and don't know. Like you said to flip the rug over and check for the. So if, if you were to run into that or possibly advising homeowners to avoid something like that. Any tips?
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Yeah, for sure. Nowadays you have to be really careful. I mean, I've come across the past few years some. There's some new rugs in the market that are machine made and they almost look handmade. So you have to be careful when you're buying these things, you ideally you want to shop somewhere reputable.
Someone you know, someone who's been around for quite some time. Do some research online. Watch this, this podcast Little things that little, little tips would be like we said, flip the rug over. Whenever it's a hand knotted rug, you should be able to see the knots on the back. That's one of the main telltale signs.
A lot of these new counterfeits though, they have kind of like fake knots on the back. So another way would be feeling the rug. All hand knotted rugs are typically made with wool. 99 percent of the time. If not, the more luxurious ones will be combinations of wool and silk.
But again like 99 percent of the time they're made with wool. So if it's very like, how should I say, it's very almost too like, let's say if it's shiny or if it's very like too soft or almost, sometimes the back of it you should touch the back of. If it's hard to the touch, it's probably because it's, it's made of plastic. Those are usually the telltale signs. But I'd say if you're shopping somewhere reputable where you can trust them, you'll be in good hands. They'll talk. Because I have a few samples of those new ones in the market that are machine made but look handmade. And I always, I always show clients as a kind of side by side. I say, hey, this is, this is the real thing and this is, you have to be careful of stuff like this.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: Yeah. And I would assume products like that are not going to wear anywhere like a proper hand knotted rug.
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Not even close. So you, there's nothing wrong with buying them. You just, just be careful. You're not paying too much for something like that.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: Yeah. And I was thinking when I was looking at that, I said, well, you know, another, another thing to look at probably would be price. But then I'm like if I'm a scam artist trying to rip you off on selling you a fake hand knotted rug, I'm not going to price it so low that it's obvious. So you're probably gonna charge like a pretty penny for it.
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Unfortunately, that, that's the thing you really, I think when it comes to handmade rugs, shop somewhere reputable. Do your research, read online a bit, go to more than one store, speak with the shop owners if you're not buying locally.
Because ever since COVID I'm finding people are buying rugs a bit more online. People are surprised when I tell them this. Before COVID for me at least, it was nothing. Ever since COVID we're doing sales online. And I would say if you're thinking about buying something from across the country or from another country, call the shop, talk to them.
If you're speaking with, you know, a reputable shop, they'll take the time, they'll answer all your questions. So I'd say definitely do your due diligence before. Before, you know, pulling the trigger on a purchase.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: Okay. I brought up price points. I'm.
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs:
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: If you're speaking with, you
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Yeah, I see people doin
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: If you're speaking with, you know, a reputable shop, they'll take the time, they'll answer all your questions. So I'd say definitely do your due diligence before. Before, you know, pulling the trigger on a purchase.
I'm curious if you can give me an idea of. Of the price of the products that you sell from. And I realize it's going to change based on the size and the region and all that kind of stuff. What's involved with that? The pricing
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Main thing you said is size. So let's say we're looking at, you know, one size. There will be a range. The range shouldn't be too crazy. So the, the thing that kind of affects the. The pricing that, that, that range, even if you are looking at one size, is typically, like we said, the knots.
It usually always goes back to the knots. The more. The more workmanship, the more time involved, the finer a piece. That usually increases the price. And a lot of the time, it could be. Another factor after the knots would be the rarity of the piece. So certain pieces, for instance, when I'm shopping and I'm sourcing, I can find lots of them.
They're readily available, whereas some of them, I mean, that's it. Like this piece behind me, if I. If I fly to Iran tomorrow, I probably won't find this piece. Really? It's like that? Yeah. Like, seriously, one of a kind. That's it. You know what I mean? I'd have to. I don't even know if I could find another one.
So that would have an effect on the price as well. So it's kind of like different fact, like color combinations, things like that, and then the age. The age of a rug. Antique rugs are usually a bit more expensive because you can't find them anymore. Yeah, it's almost like art.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: So bringing that up about not being able to possibly find that rug, if you were to try to go source it now, what do you see the future in terms of production of these products? Are they still being produced in the same quantity? More. Less?
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: They're still being produced, but at a lower quantity. I think a lot of the skilled weavers have gotten, you know, they're getting older and it's hard to find replace because it's a very, it's a very skilled position. You really, you need to know, like, you can't just, you know, hey, I'm taking the day off, fill in for me, type of thing. You really have to know what you're doing. So I don't think there's as many skilled weavers as there once was. But there's, there's still plenty of them. I mean, they're, they're still making rugs. I don't, I don't think they're going anywhere. At least, at least not for a long time.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: Yeah, that would be awful if it was. I mean, but I mean, it happens, right, with our, you know, clothing. At one point, all of our clothing was homemade. Right. People would make stuff and now everything's, you know, fast fashion and pumped out crazy fast. I mean, the idea of the difference between something that's made by a craftsperson and something that's mass produced, you know, there's such value to that, right? Absolutely. Yeah. I was thinking, okay, so let's, let's play a little game.
Imagine that I'm a interior designer. Okay. Never been to your shop before. I've got a client who's interested potentially in a hand knotted rug and, but I don't have a ton of experience. I don't feel comfortable advising. So I'm going to come to you and have you kind of take, take us both by the hand and take us through the process. If you had a newbie interior designer come into your shop, how do you see what the sales process would go?
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Firstly, I would probably ask them what do they like, do they like modern, do they like traditional? And then from there I have a sense of what they like and I'll start explaining to them how the rugs are made. I would explain the materials, the price points. I would compare modern to traditional just to show them the, you know, the quality, the comparisons of the craftsmanship, price points, explaining the price points to them, the materials to them, comparing to, you know, machine made rugs, things of that nature, the sizes, all that kind of letting them know about the, the possibility of making custom rugs, what goes into that versus stuff that's ready in stock.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: So what would be involved with, with having a custom rug created?
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Yeah, so I mean, we have lots of our own designs here. We have our own samples from different suppliers. So, you know, you can pick one of those and we can make it for you in any Size, we'd show you the materials, different colors. We have some clients, they don't want one of our samples. They've seen something on, you know, on just browsing on Pinterest or something and they want to make that specifically. We can do that as well. We take the picture and we can make them something very similar. Again, going through materials, colors, just the craftsmanship, timelines, pricing, and letting them know kind of what affects that, what effect.
Because sometimes they'll say, oh, why does it take one month? Why does it take two months? And we kind of explain that to them. Or why is this one this much and this one you showed me is this much? Why is there a difference in pricing? So kind of explaining all that goes into the, into the making of the rug and the price points and just so they understand what they're buying or what they're considering buying.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: Now, that custom rug, is that, is that a machine built rug?
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: No, no, hand knotted.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: And the timeline?
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Timeline. So most of the stuff that I stick with is like within two months. If you want like a big rug, three months.
I've heard some places you go and they tell you like, you have to wait five, six months. I, I typically stay with designs where it's at least the stuff I carry that's like two, three months. Because I, I don't know how many people are going to want to bother waiting five, six months.
So I try and carry designs like that have realistic timelines where most people say, even most things that people bring me, I mean, two, three months tops. I've even had one month. If it's something simple, if it's something like, you know, tone on tone, like a cream rug, we can make it for you hand, like a Moroccan style rug, something like that. Even, even less than two months.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: That's wild. The, the one behind you, how long would that have taken them to make that?
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: This. Months, at least months. This would have taken quite some time because it's a bit more intricate. Something that goes into it is the use of color. There's so many colors in this, if you really look at it closely.
So I would say something like this would have definitely been more than two months. It would have taken quite some time. Sorry, I was gonna say the knots per square inch is another, another big one that's gonna, that's gonna drive up the timeline. But I find people nowadays who are looking for custom rugs.
Typically they're not getting stuff that's like super tightly woven. So it Won't. It doesn't take too, too long. Okay. Even for a good quality piece.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: So would that be, like, for you? That's. That's your favorite?
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Yeah. I mean, you would think so. I'm sitting at my desk. I mean, it's one of my favorites in the shop. I really like, I like old pieces. Like, in my heart, my favorite stuff is. I like. I like Persian rugs, maybe because I grew up with them, but a lot of. So I'm Persian, of course, born and raised in Canada, but a lot of the new generation, even in person, Persian, they. They're not a big fan of them. I love them maybe because I grew up with them, so maybe not my top, top choice in the shop, but definitely one of them, for sure.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: Okay. Well, that's. That technically is all of the questions I had, I had written for you. And I'm sitting here trying, like, me. I'm like, I got you here. I might as well pick your brain a little bit. Is there, Is there anything you think I've missed?
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: No. We did pretty bang on. I would, I would again, maybe go into kind of the common misconceptions about rugs, because I have these types of, you know, conversations with my clients a lot of the times of, you know, sometimes price points, people get scared. They. They think it's going to be, you know, thousands upon thousands of dollars when it. That's not necessarily the case. You can get a good handmade rug, and it's. It's not going to be thousands of thousands of dollars all the time.
Again, misconceptions where people think, you know, I can't walk on it. I'm. I'm scared to spill something on it. And I tell them it's actually the opposite. They. They wear very well. They're very reliable, very durable. They're made to be used, things of that nature. So I love talking to clients about stuff like that. Again, not to name. I don't want to name any companies, but I saw somebody, a client the other day showed me one of the washable rugs that they're considering, and it was. I was shocked. It was a thousand bucks. I told him, like, it was a bigger size, but I told them, I mean, it's your choice. I'm not even asking you to buy something from me. Whatever makes you happy, whether you go here or a different shop or you get the washable one online.
But I'm like, I don't think you should be paying a thousand bucks. For something like that. So. Because you'd be shocked you could get a good hand knotted rug for not much more than that.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: And, and that's the thing, it's the lack of knowledge. Right. And if you don't know, you go online and people are like exactly that washable rug. And people are talking about it and it's all over social media like, oh, this is fantastic and the price is a thousand dollars. Everybody seems to think this is great, so I guess it's worth a thousand dollars.
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: I think it's really good marketing. I mean they're, they're big companies, they throw who knows how much money behind it. They have so many influencers, they the best photography. So yeah, I mean it works.
So I, one thing I like that I've actually been seeing and I think I need to do a better job of this is I'm seeing a lot of the new generation. That's been one, one of the nice things with social media. I've been seeing the new generation that's gotten into the rug business. They're doing a really nice job of educating clients and providing that knowledge and talking about synthetic rugs and machine made rugs versus, you know, handmade rugs made with natural, natural materials. They're renewable, reliable, sustainable. I think I need to do a better job of that as well. And I think social media is actually a really good platform for doing that so people kind of can see both sides of it at least.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: Yeah. So let's, let's say again, I'm not, I'm a new homeowner, me and my wife want a hand knotted rug. We're not sure exactly what we want yet, but we're a little cautious in terms of how much we can spend and based on our preconceptions, we think it's going to cost thousands and thousands of dollars.
And can you, can you give me a range of what it would be like? I want, and I want hand knotted. I don't want machine made. Yeah, for sure. Hand knotted.
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: Again, it depends on the size. If you're not going too big on the size, you can get something for like definitely under a thousand bucks. For sure under a thousand. And again, sometimes people think they're going to be, regardless of size, thousands upon thousands. Which, which, which is not the case. You can get something sometimes for 500, 600 bucks, 700, 800 bucks and a machine made one probably would be like around half the price. But I mean it's, I wouldn't say it's half the value. It's, it wouldn't last nearly as long. So yeah, definitely under a thousand bucks.
You could find something. I normally ask people who I see are a bit price conscious because, because I, I understand that. I shop around at other stores too. I buy things myself. I understand that. I say if you don't mind, just share your budget with me and I'll try and find something nice, something reliable for you within that budget. That's kind of how I, how I work with the more price conscious clients because I find usually there's something, something I can find for them in their size range and in their price range.
Douglas Robb - Interior Design Toronto: Yeah. And give them options and that's where, where the, the experience comes, Right?
Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs: I think at the end of the day there's going to be certain people that, and I'm not here to convince people. I know there are certain people. You'll never be able to convince them and that's. As long as you're happy, that's completely fine. I find usually when people come to me, they're, they're ready to make that purchase. They've done, they've done their research.
Typically they're, they're ready to pull the trigger on it. Or, or they've had machine made rugs and like, hey, you know what, we did it that way. It was good. Now we want to go for the handmade rugs now. So usually they're ready once they come to the shop.
Connect with Kasra Rahimi - Kasra Rugs
If you’ve ever thought about furnishing your home with a beautiful, sustainable, hand-knotted Persian rug, you owe it to yourself to reach out to Kasra Rahimi at Kasra Rugs to experience his curated collection firsthand.
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