Axminster Weave
The name ‘Axminster’ comes from the town of the same name in England where ‘Axminster carpets’ have been manufactured since the 18th century. The name has remained as a generic term and nowadays Axminster carpets are produced throughout the world.
Axminster carpets are installed in thousands of hotels, casinos, cruise ships, offices, institutional buildings and homes throughout the world. Axminster weaving is still widely used for the production of wool rugs, carpet squares, broadloom residential and contract carpets in multicoloured designs.
The product is woven on two distinctly different types of looms: the Spool Axminster loom and the Gripper Axminster loom , both of which were developed from the original jacquard loom technology of the nineteenth century.
Spool Axminster looms are used by numerous Axminster carpet manufacturers worldwide, mainly for producing rugs and traditional carpets. This specific manufacturing process produces Axminster carpets with a virtually unlimited number of colours and designs.
Gripper Axminster looms
are viewed as better suited to contract carpet production and many of these
looms now operate electronically. During this process, the yarn is cut to
a pre-determined length according to the selected pile height, and woven
simultaneously on the same loom with the backing yarn. Design possibilities
are limitless combining today's Axminster looms with the
latest production software.
Most Axminster carpets
are manufactured using a blend of 80% wool and 20% nylon fibres. They are
recognised worldwide as one of the best possible options for hotels or contract
carpeting and are also available from stock ranges for superior residential
carpeting.
Axminster carpets may be
woven using different criteria such as of number of rows per inch, yarn count,
pile height etc. This means that the same design may be woven with very different
qualities according to specific needs with regard to the end use.