Who tufts now: the mills and the studios

A photograph taken at Shaw Industries in Dalton shows a green cast-iron carpet loom. Chains of tube frames hang overhead, each spool wound with one row of coloured pile yarn; the loom takes one spool at a time, inserts a row of tufts, cuts them and weaves them in, and the carpet on its cloth beam carries a many-coloured pattern. Identified so far only from the photograph, it appears to be a spool Axminster loom, a type that dates from Halcyon Skinner’s loom of 1876.¹1“Spool Axminster power loom (identified from photograph)”, undated; the spool Axminster type dates from Skinner's 1876 loom, Shaw Industries, Dalton, Georgia. Record It is a weaving machine in the keeping of a firm that did not begin as a carpet maker at all. Shaw started in 1946 as Star Dye Co., dyeing small tufted goods, bedspreads and scatter rugs, during Dalton’s chenille boom.²2“Shaw Industries Group”, founded 1946 (as Star Dye Co.), Shaw Industries Group. Record

The firms that tuft today mostly came to it the same way, from another trade, and many of them have since merged, bought others or been bought. Nearly everything known about them comes from their own websites and from trade and local histories, most of them read so far only in search-result summaries, so their claims are reported here as theirs.

Dalton’s newcomers

Shaw’s road to carpet ran through finishing. As Star Finishing Co. it became, by the company’s account, the world’s largest commission finisher of tufted carpet; Shaw dates that name to 1958, the Georgia Encyclopedia to 1960. Its first move into making carpet came when a holding company formed in 1967 bought the Philadelphia Carpet Co., founded in 1846.³3“Shaw Industries Group”, founded 1946 (as Star Dye Co.), Shaw Industries Group. Record Randall Patton has written its history.⁴4Randall L. Patton, Shaw Industries: A History, 2019. Record

Its neighbours came from yarn, sales and other textiles. The Dixie Group began in 1920 as Dixie Mercerizing Co., treating cotton yarn for hosiery; it moved into tufting yarns and made carpet itself only from 1993, when it bought Carriage Industries and Masland Carpets.⁵5“The Dixie Group”, founded 1920 (Dixie Mercerizing); carpet from 1951/1993, The Dixie Group. Record World Carpets was founded in Dalton in 1954 by Shaheen Shaheen, a former chenille-company salesman, and his wife Piera.⁶6“World Carpets”, founded 1954, World Carpets. Record Milliken, a textile company founded in 1865, entered carpet in 1968 by buying Callaway Mills of LaGrange, Georgia.⁷7“Milliken & Company (floor covering)”, company 1865; carpet from 1968, Milliken & Company (floor covering). Record Ray Anderson left Milliken in 1973 to bring European carpet tiles to the United States, founding the firm that became Interface.⁸8“Interface”, founded 1973 (as Carpets International-Georgia), Interface. Record Even Engineered Floors, which broke ground at Calhoun in 2009, was founded by a man leaving another firm: Bob Shaw, former chief executive of Shaw Industries.⁹9“Engineered Floors”, founded 2009 (plant 2009–10), Engineered Floors. Record

The old weaver among the Georgia giants is Mohawk. The Shuttleworth family wove carpet in Amsterdam, New York, from 1878; a merger in 1920 formed Mohawk Carpet Mills, and the merger with Alexander Smith in 1956 formed Mohasco. Mohasco moved south. By 1965 it had a tufted plant at Dublin, Georgia, and had ended Wilton and velvet weaving at Laurens, South Carolina; carpet making in Amsterdam ended about 1968.¹⁰10“Mohawk Industries”, founded 1878 (Amsterdam, New York), Mohawk Industries. Record

Weavers who came late

In Germany the first tufters were newcomers too. In September 1959 a German trade journal described tufting as practised “bisher nur durch Außenseiter”, so far only by outsiders.¹¹11“1959: German trade press says tufting is used ‘only by outsiders’ and is breaking through”, 1959, research note. Record “Everywhere, tufting was adopted by outsiders, not established weavers”, research note. Record In Japan, Nihon Jūtan installed its first Wilton loom in 1955 but a tufting machine only in 1981.¹²12“Japan’s established weavers were the last to tuft”, 1955–1981, research note. Record The pattern has exceptions: Japan’s first tufter, Suminoe, was an established carpet weaver.¹³13“Everywhere, tufting was adopted by outsiders, not established weavers”, research note. Record Chapter 7 follows those first adopters.

Several of the European and Australian mills in this chapter’s records were weavers or woollen mills before they tufted. Ege began at Herning, Denmark, in 1938 with two looms, registered first as a cotton mill; the company says it built a 25,000 m² tufting factory there in the early 1970s.¹⁴14“Ege Carpets (Egetæpper)”, founded 1938; tufting factory early 1970s, Ege Carpets (Egetæpper). Record Balta was set up in Belgium in 1964 to make woven area rugs, and its Imperial Tufting Company followed at Tielt in 1974.¹⁵15“Balta (Belysse / Victoria)”, founded 1964 (woven rugs); tufting from 1974 (ITC), Balta (Belysse / Victoria). Record Godfrey Hirst traces itself to a woollen mill set up at Geelong in 1865 and made blankets, rugs, tweeds and flannel until it narrowed to carpet in 1966; whether that carpet was tufted from the start has not been found.¹⁶16“Godfrey Hirst”, roots 1865; carpet focus from 1966, Godfrey Hirst. Record Victoria Carpets was founded at Kirkcaldy in 1895 and moved in 1900 to Kidderminster, the centre of British carpet weaving; it now makes tufted as well as woven carpet.¹⁷17“Victoria PLC (Victoria Carpets)”, founded 1895, Victoria PLC (Victoria Carpets). Record Desso, according to its owner Tarkett, began at Oss as a maker of woven carpets.¹⁸18“Desso (Tarkett)”, founded 1930 (woven carpet), Desso (Tarkett). Record In Egypt, Oriental Weavers began with a single loom in 1979 (1980 in one account) and remains mainly a maker of machine-woven rugs; its tufted arm, MAC Carpet, was established in 1981.¹⁹19“Oriental Weavers”, founded 1979; tufted arm MAC from 1981, Oriental Weavers. Record

For most of these firms the year they began to tuft is either the company’s own date or not recorded at all. No date has been found for Desso, for Kasthall, or for the Vorwerk carpet mill, which in a company interview names tufting among its techniques.²⁰20“Desso (Tarkett)”, founded 1930 (woven carpet), Desso (Tarkett). Record “Kasthall”, founded 1889; Kinna factory 1901, Kasthall. Record “Vorwerk Teppichwerke (now Hamelner Teppichwerke)”, founded 1883, Vorwerk Teppichwerke (now Hamelner Teppichwerke). Record Not every weaver made the change. Merinos of Gaziantep, which says it makes about 40 million m² of machine-made rugs a year, is a weaver; tufting in its group is attributed to a sister brand, Dinarsu, but that is not confirmed.²¹21“Merinos (Erdemoğlu)”, 1970 (kilim looms); carpet from 1983, Merinos (Erdemoğlu). Record

Family capital also crossed from Europe to Dalton. Roger De Clerck began in 1959 with an upholstery-fabric workshop on the family farm in West Flanders (one biography calls it a carpet company), and in 1978 his daughter Mieke De Clerck and son-in-law Carl Bouckaert founded Beaulieu of America, which became a large Dalton maker of tufted carpet.²²22“Beaulieu International Group”, founded 1959, Beaulieu International Group. Record

Bought, merged and divided

The second pattern in the records is consolidation. Mohawk merged with World Carpets in November 1998 and acquired Godfrey Hirst in 2018.²³23“World Carpets”, founded 1954, World Carpets. Record “Godfrey Hirst”, roots 1865; carpet focus from 1966, Godfrey Hirst. Record Shaw bought West Point-Pepperell’s carpet business in 1987, Salem in 1992 and Queen in 1999, and has been owned by Berkshire Hathaway since 2001.²⁴24“Shaw Industries Group”, founded 1946 (as Star Dye Co.), Shaw Industries Group. Record Beaulieu of America went bankrupt in 2017 and its assets went to Engineered Floors, which also bought Dream Weaver Carpet and merged with J+J Flooring; by 2019 Engineered Floors had about 12 plants, all in the Dalton area.²⁵25“Beaulieu International Group”, founded 1959, Beaulieu International Group. Record “Engineered Floors”, founded 2009 (plant 2009–10), Engineered Floors. Record

Europe followed the same course. Desso passed through owners including DLW, Armstrong and NPM Capital before Tarkett agreed to buy it on 30 October 2014.²⁶26“Desso (Tarkett)”, founded 1930 (woven carpet), Desso (Tarkett). Record From 2012 Geoff Wilding turned Victoria into an acquisitive flooring group, adding Victoria Carpets Australia in 2014, Abingdon Flooring and, in 2022, Balta’s rugs and residential businesses; what remained of the Balta group was renamed Belysse.²⁷27“Victoria PLC (Victoria Carpets)”, founded 1895, Victoria PLC (Victoria Carpets). Record “Balta (Belysse / Victoria)”, founded 1964 (woven rugs); tufting from 1974 (ITC), Balta (Belysse / Victoria). Record

New mills are still built by firms from outside carpet: the home-textile maker Welspun India formed Welspun Flooring in 2016, and its Hyderabad plant was under construction in 2018.²⁸28“Welspun Flooring”, entity 2016; plant from about 2019, Welspun Flooring. Record

The size of these groups is usually stated in their own words. Victoria describes itself as the UK’s largest carpet manufacturer and Welspun calls its plant “Asia’s largest”, while the description of Mohawk as the world’s largest flooring manufacturer counts all flooring by revenue, not carpet.²⁹29“Victoria PLC (Victoria Carpets)”, founded 1895, Victoria PLC (Victoria Carpets). Record “Welspun Flooring”, entity 2016; plant from about 2019, Welspun Flooring. Record “Mohawk Industries”, founded 1878 (Amsterdam, New York), Mohawk Industries. Record These are claims, not measurements, and this chapter does not rank the firms.

Studios with borrowed beginnings

The custom studios have their own founding stories, and they too have been gathered up. In the United States two names come first. Stanislav V’Soske and his brothers set up a carpet workshop in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which a local history dates to 1920. Trade sources credit Stanislav with developing “the modern hand-tufting technique” in 1924, a claim to treat with care, since hand-tufting tools were being patented in the United States in the same years.³⁰30“V’Soske”, workshop c. 1920 (Grand Rapids); hand-tufting dated 1924, V'Soske. Record Edward Fields founded his New York carpet house in 1935. The company says he developed a hand-tufting tool, the “Magic Needle”, in the mid-1930s, and that he coined the term “area rug”, which its pages tie to rugs of the 1950s.³¹31“Edward Fields”, founded 1935, Edward Fields. Record Their tools belong to chapter 9.

Neither firm stands alone now. Jack Fields sold Edward Fields to Tai Ping in 2005, and it operates as a Tai Ping brand.³²32“Edward Fields”, founded 1935, Edward Fields. Record V’Soske’s line continues in PWV Studios, a hand-tufting studio founded by V’Soske in 1983, which belongs to the Scott Group of Grand Rapids, as does the hand-knotting firm Hokanson.³³33“Scott Group Studio”, founded 1969 (as Scott Carpet Mills, Cleveland), Scott Group Studio. Record “V’Soske”, workshop c. 1920 (Grand Rapids); hand-tufting dated 1924, V'Soske. Record Scott itself began in 1969 as Scott Carpet Mills in Cleveland. It made the Oval Office rug of 2010 and says it has more than 50 tufting artisans in Grand Rapids.³⁴34“Scott Group Studio”, founded 1969 (as Scott Carpet Mills, Cleveland), Scott Group Studio. Record

The later studios also came to tufting from somewhere else. Pinton, a tapestry manufacture at Felletin near Aubusson founded in 1867, says it was “one of the first manufactories” to use gun tufting and has specialised in hand-tufted rugs since the early 1990s. In May 2024 it opened an 1,800 m² tufting plant at Croze.³⁵35“Pinton (Ateliers Pinton)”, founded 1867; hand-tufting specialism from the early 1990s, Pinton (Ateliers Pinton). Record Limited Edition, founded in 1991 and based at Mouscron in Belgium, began with sisal rug borders and, by its founder’s account, went on to buy struggling weaving and tufting companies.³⁶36“Limited Edition”, founded 1991, Limited Edition. Record In County Wexford, according to the Irish Times, Denis Kenny and Fiona Gilboy took over in 1981 a small hearth-rug business founded by Tom Ceadogán, a dyehouse master; other sources date Ceadogán Rugmakers to 1989.³⁷37“Ceadogán Rugmakers”, founded 1981 or 1989 (sources conflict), Ceadogán Rugmakers. Record Designer Rugs was started in Sydney in 1986 by a family with no prior rug experience, to offer designs that imported rugs lacked.³⁸38“Designer Rugs”, founded 1986, Designer Rugs. Record Creative Accents in California dates itself to 1967 and tells how Ken Hensler made “one of the world’s first shag rugs” on his wife’s sewing machine in the early 1960s; both are the company’s claims.³⁹39“Creative Accents”, founded 1967, Creative Accents. Record

Kramis, founded in 1987 and based at Altbüron in the canton of Lucerne, is the plainest case of the small studio. It makes only bespoke hand-tufted rugs with single-needle tufting guns, and Monocle reported in 2011 that about 12 staff made up to 4 carpets a day. An Instagram tufting video in 2022 brought it international attention, a link to the hobby revival (chapter 13).⁴⁰40“Kramis Teppich Design”, founded 1987, Kramis Teppich Design. Record

Hand and machine under one roof

The line between hand and machine work now runs through firms rather than between them. Tai Ping was founded in Hong Kong in 1956 by Sir Lawrence and Sir Horace Kadoorie with partners, to keep Chinese carpet craft alive and employ refugees; by its own account its early breakthrough was a switch from hand-knotting to hand-tufting, and it later made machine-tufted carpet as well.⁴¹41“Tai Ping Carpets”, founded 1956, Tai Ping Carpets. Record Jaipur Living, started in Rajasthan in 1978 with 2 looms and 9 artisans, is a hand-knotting business at its core, but it also makes hand-tufted rugs, gun-tufted through a pre-woven cloth with a cotton-latex backing, and power-loomed lines.⁴²42“Jaipur Living / Jaipur Rugs”, founded 1978 (Rajasthan), Jaipur Living / Jaipur Rugs. Record Both Jaipur Living and Surya, which began in 1976 as a small supplier of hand-knotted rugs at Ugapur, now run their American business from Georgia, Jaipur from Atlanta and Surya from Cartersville.⁴³43“Jaipur Living / Jaipur Rugs”, founded 1978 (Rajasthan), Jaipur Living / Jaipur Rugs. Record “Surya”, founded 1976, Surya. Record Chapter 10 follows the Indian side.

Delos, founded in 2005 by Ivan and Leah Phillips and based at Calhoun, Georgia, shows the division inside one company. Its “American Made” rugs are tufted by robotic or CNC machines in Georgia and finished by hand; its “Journey Made” rugs are hand-tufted or woven overseas. It added an aircraft-carpet division in 2013, and in 2021 bought Masland’s US custom area-rug equipment and added tufting machines.⁴⁴44“Delos (The Delos Company)”, founded 2005, Delos (The Delos Company). Record Chapter 12 follows the machines.

The hand tool has a place even in the broadloom mill. In conversation with Tim Eads, Shaw Industries’ design team said that hand-held tufting guns are still used on the broadloom line to fix mistakes found at final inspection; a written or photographed source for the practice is still to be found.⁴⁵45“Hand tufting guns are still used to mend broadloom at final inspection”, 2026 (conversation), Shaw Industries (design team, in conversation). Record A Dalton patent describes such a tool: William H. Satterfield’s “Hand-held Tufting Mending Gun”, filed in 1990 and assigned to Spencer Wright Industries.⁴⁶46William H. Satterfield, “Hand-held Tufting Mending Gun” (US5090341A), filed 18 Sep 1990, granted 25 Feb 1992. Record

This chapter argues that the firms that tuft today mostly came to tufting from another trade, whether dyeing, yarn, weaving or tapestry, and that mergers have since gathered mills and studios alike into fewer groups, inside which hand and machine production often sit side by side.