Flokati carpet

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A white flokato carpet

The shag carpet ( Modern Greek φλοκάτη [ flɔkati ] "woolen blanket thicker shepherd coat" of φλοκάτος, phlokátos "tufted, fluffed" his part of φλόκι, phlóki "tufts of wool, fluff," borrowed from obsoletem Italian * Flocco or Aromanian floc < Latin floccus ) is a traditional piece of furniture from the Pindos Mountains in Greece . In the 1970s, the carpet was fashionable beyond Greece, and later as an object of retro waves .

Traditionally, flokati carpets were made from natural-colored wool. By dyeing the wool before weaving, colored flokatis are increasingly being produced today.

production

An original Flokati is made in Greece in a multi-stage process. First, a chain made of spun, long-staple virgin wool yarn is pulled on a hand loom . The weft is usually a mixture of virgin wool and synthetic yarn, which gives the carpet a special durability: These weft threads later form the back of the flokati and the addition of synthetic fibers make it dimensionally stable.

So that not only a smooth, plain weave fabric is created, a steel square is placed between each two warp threads (circumference = later pile height) before weft threads are set. If the square were to be removed now, a loop and not a pile would have been created. Therefore, the warp yarn wrapped around the square is cut open by hand, which creates the actual pile. The entire process is repeated, the flokat fabric is created centimeter by centimeter. The pile on this fabric is still a series of long wool threads, and the carpet only acquires its fluffy structure, which is so typical of flokati, in a later step of the manufacturing process. The closer the rows are set in this weaving process, the heavier, denser and higher quality the flokati will be.

When the flokati comes off the loom, it looks more like a shaggy or spaghetti carpet. Only the special felting and shrinking process provides the characteristic fluffy surface and the firm carrier fabric. This process, known as "water friction", is mostly carried out in the mountains in the north of Greece. The water from the mountain streams is directed into round tubs in which a strong vortex is created. The half-finished carpets are placed in this vortex and felted and shrunk for hours by the friction of pure water power. The previously loose fabric becomes firm, the pile threads open and the twisted threads create the fluffy sheepskin-like surface. The resulting carpet is very hard-wearing and strong.

After a drying phase, which usually does not last very long in the sunny Greek air, the finished flokatis are checked and shipped all over the world.

The original Greek flokati from this traditional production method that has been tried and tested for centuries is a natural and low-pollutant product.

clothing

Raverin with clothes made of flokati

Not only carpets are made from flokati. Especially in the raver scene furry garments such as jackets, "Fluffy Boots" mentioned came in the 1990s, boots and bags Flokati in fashion, which were mostly held in bright neon colors.

Web links

Wiktionary: Flokati  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. φλοκάτα, φλοκάτη , in: Pons German-Greek Dictionary , accessed on October 29, 2019.
  2. φλόκι , in the English Wiktionary, accessed on October 29, 2019.
  3. Entries on the word family in the Lexikó Triantafyllídi (Greek) on the portal for the Greek language , accessed on October 29, 2019.
  4. Young is the night: ABC of the slopes. In: Spiegel Special . Retrieved March 17, 2017 (08/1998).