Age per se is not, by itself, a reason for the superiority of a rug. However, there are several factors that contribute to older rugs being more desirable.

1. Material

There was a time when hand-spinning yarn and the use of natural dyes were common practice. This was because there were more artisans with the relevant skills who would spend the time to do the work, in the absence of industrial spinning mills and dyeing factories that mass-produced yarn.

Using fast mills and chemical dyes produces uniform yarn with consistent thickness and colour. Such a process, at the same time, removes much of the natural lanolin content of the wool and reduces the strength of the wool fibre. It also eliminates the vibrancy and the interesting effect of multiple tones that vegetable dyes and low-temperature dyeing naturally create. The result is often the flatter, duller appearance seen in some rugs.

Hand-spun wool, on the other hand, retains more of its natural character. Variations in thickness and the subtle shifts of colour created by natural dyes give older rugs a depth and liveliness that are difficult to reproduce with industrial methods.

2. Design

Up to about 30 years ago, the use of CAD in carpet design was almost non-existent. A weaver would produce a rug from memory based on local traditions, use an older rug as a design to follow, or work from a hand-drafted naqsha drawn on graph paper. All such processes were carried out with a slowness dictated by their very nature.

The time it took to create a design allowed the passion and emotion of the designer or the weaver to truly sink in and become intertwined within the fibres of every knot. The result often contained irregularities that reflected the humanness of the weaver and the presence of a free spirit at work.

CAD design has changed much of this. It has become far easier to design and consequently much faster. Anyone can scan a picture of a classic rug and reshape it into a rug design, or take a photograph of a crack in a wall and turn it into a modern abstract composition.

The result has been a boom in designs. One can see countless renditions of meaningless and rootless patterns, the result of multiple copy-and-paste exercises, and consequently many soul-less rugs whose greatest contribution is merely aesthetic.

One must keep in mind that there are still many true artists creating meaningful and authentic designs. Yet there are also many contemporary rugs that have little more to offer than their body.

3. Patina

The passage of time matures the colours. They settle in, sometimes becoming richer, sometimes more subtle and muted. At the same time, the pile wears and erodes in places due to oxidation, and a naturally aged appearance replaces the newness and brightness associated with a recently made rug. An amazing texture gradually forms, making the rug unique and often most pleasing to the eye.

One must keep in mind that there is a degree of randomness in such a process. The appearance of sharp variations in colour, known as abrash, and other effects of age can go both ways, sometimes in a negative direction. However, due to the use of natural dyes, hand-spun yarn, and the structural integrity of the knots, these changes often add to the beauty and character of an old rug.

The result is a surface that could never be deliberately created, shaped instead by decades of use, light, atmosphere, and time itself.

Therefore

Due to the factors mentioned above, older rugs are generally very pleasant and often appear more appealing than many new ones. While this is a common occurrence, one must not deny that there are rugs produced today that possess all the characteristics of the old rugs, and sometimes even surpass them, with one notable side effect.

The cost of materials, hand-spun yarn, natural dyes, hand-drafted designs, and the time required to produce older rugs is often overlooked and left uncounted when such rugs are marketed. Producers of premium rugs today, however, must take all these costs into consideration, at a time when hand-spinning, natural dyeing, and hand-drafting a design have become far scarcer and more costly.

As a result, a newly made carpet of comparable quality to its older peers is, in general terms, often more expensive in the marketplace.

In the end, age alone is not what makes a rug desirable. Rather, it is the quality of the materials, the integrity of the craftsmanship, the thought behind the design, and the patina acquired through time that together create the character we admire in great old rugs.