Sumak/Soumak Rugs

Sumak is a type of brocading or flatwoven pile. Thicker than kilim, it is accomplished by looping the yarn horizontally around successive pairs of warps in between passes of over-under wefting. When compressed vertically with a weaver's comb, the resultant texture looks like cabling rising slightly from the surface of the rug. Sumak is named for the village of Shemaka in the Caucasus where this technique was widely practiced, but it certainly was not invented there. Sumak has been practiced extensively across the rug producing world, from Central Asia to Iran, the Caucasus, and Turkey.