Let us move to America, more precisely to the United States, where the first carpet-weaving factory was opened in Philadelphia in 1791.
In 1841, a steam engine was put into use in production, increasing daily output more than threefold. In the western United States, until the 19th century, machine-made carpet flooring was most commonly used, because few families could afford more expensive Oriental hand-woven carpets. Demand for hand-woven carpets, both Oriental and European, continued in the USA throughout the 19th century. They were the preferred floor decoration in rooms furnished with English, French, or Italian furniture.
In America, in the early 1920s, Oriental carpets went out of fashion and were replaced by machine-made carpets in a single color or with a general pattern. The favorite color of decorators was gray, which remained neutral whenever the room’s color scheme changed. In the 1940s, beiges became very popular, and to this day they remain the most popular color for carpets and carpet flooring.
By the mid-1950s, more carpets and carpet flooring were being produced in the United States than fabrics.
In Poland, after World War II, the carpet factory in Kowary was taken over.
Of course, one of the largest recipients of carpets and carpet flooring from Kowary at that time was the USSR. It was in Kowary that a 180 m² wool carpet was woven, which decorated the Column Hall of the Presidential Palace from 1969 to 2009. Unfortunately, in the 1990s, while undergoing restructuring, the factory encountered serious economic problems, which ultimately led to its closure in 2009.
In the 1970s, a decision was made to build the Agnella carpet factory in Białystok, which began production in 1980.
The factory was privatized in 1991. Today, the factory has the most modern technology in Central and Eastern Europe and produces around 2 billion square meters annually in several hundred patterns, which accounts for 65% of domestic production, with more than half exported to Great Britain, the USA, and European Union countries.
Today, carpets are more popular than ever before in history.
They are produced almost all over the world, in many shapes and sizes, and from countless raw materials, adapted to the needs and styles of consumers. THE END!
Michał Miłowski
