I am also trying your experiment.
I have several modern (post 1960) rugs as living room floor rugs. They get a lot of traffic and they hold up quite well. They are bright. One is beginning to fade from the sunlight. In an older rug this would be called "mellowing". None has faded to pastel yet, though. I suspect the brightest, busiest rug will fade to a mere shadow of its original colors. All but the orange, of course!

Michael presented many things about wine I was unaware of. The most startling is that I have probably never drunk a really good wine. It would cost way more than I would expect to pay. Similarly, I will probably not buy a REALLY good modern rug. Because my reason for buying a modern rug is to get a cheaper floor covering rather than a work of art for the wall. And if I am buying a work of art for the wall, I will try to buy an antique rug, because I know that it has already mellowed to become a beautiful rug - I do not have to wait for 75 years to enjoy it at its peak. Someone else did that for me.
So, even if all the things Michael suggests were to be done, the market probably would not support a great amount of superlative weaving. Perhaps the owner of the fine winery would buy a 20'x30' new rug for his entry way!
Patrick Weiler

I'm not sure, but I suspect that Michael doesn't think there is a mass market for excellent new rugs that are very expensive, just as there isn't a mass market for excellent wines that are very expensive.

My interpretation of his thesis is that right now the mass market is uninformed about the difference between excellent new rugs and carpetoids (just as they were uninformed about the difference between excellent wines and lousy ones until the German government stepped in and began regulating label information). Now they can buy lousy wines with labels that don't confuse them, and Michael would like the same to be true for rugs.

I see considerable merit in the idea, although there's a lot of room within which the Law of Unintended Consequences can operate, especially in the USA.

Regards,

Steve Price

Marvin, I find Your contribution interesting. The coloristic impact of Indigo cannot be obtained with the different forms of chromium dyes. A collectable rug should not have dyes that fade within only 3 years !
Look at, e.g., dragon carpets. One type of yellow is faded to a dull ochre, but a second type yellow is not patinated at all, having lost some 10-30% of its original dye content but without changing its tone.
This is the measure for today. Why should we ask for less than for qualities that were possible 300 years ago ?
With Your Indigoid dyes the reason is different: for the people that I educated in Turkey to make a light blue that will not fade in 3 years is a pea nuts kind of thing. But in this trade the competition is running for the cheap price, not for a certain sustainable quality. The people that You mentioned would not find sleep any longer if they hear the price for a decent light blue. And do not forget: to apply qualified labour (and pay the necessary wages) is like using dirty words in this environment.

Michael Bischof