Although Oriental Rugs and Discount Area Rugs from Europe have a similar long history, that's where the things they have in common end. The experts suggest that this is not because the techniques are so vastly different between these rugs and their makers, but because each of these cultures has a very different idea of what makes up a nice decorative effect.

Spanish Examples: Some of the finest examples of the earliest area rugs come from places like Spain. Historians have evidence of carpet workshops dating back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. A regulatory body was later instituted in Madrid that cut away from the social customs and norms that had been found previously in many of the discount area rugs of the time and a new European influence was born. In other European countries like France the first reasons to place emphasis on area rugs was economic. Although these first French masters attempted to set out and imitate the oriental rugs of the day, what they produced were a completely different version of the discount area rugs that were more akin to the ones we see today.

English Input: There were some area rugs made in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and because the earlier examples they worked from were imported , they were called Turkey works. Italy, on the other hand, took a different approach when it came to discount area rugs. The country was at the center of the Oriental Carpet Trade from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. To this day there is a popular tradition of hand made carpets that exists today in Italy.

Finland has a tradition in discount area rugs that is refereed to as the Ryas, and these are the work of local artisans. The geometric and floral designs are rooted in the ancient traditions of the people there, and Finnish discount area rugs is a tradition that is virtually untouched by outside influences. As well, since the beginning of the sixteenth century there has been a tradition of embroidered discount area rugs in Europe that are both hand woven and machine woven.

Of course, the best of these discount area rugs have found their way to the modern world and North America and nowhere is this better demonstrated than with the Oriental Weavers Sphinx Collections and particularity the Artworks Area Rugs. These area rugs all boast geometric designs and looping patterns that will look great in any home.