The two terms get used interchangeably, but they describe genuinely different techniques — and it's worth knowing which one you're buying.
Hand-knotted rugs are woven on a loom, with each individual knot tied by hand around the warp threads. It's an extremely slow, skill-intensive technique that can take months for a single rug, and it produces a rug with no separate backing — the knots themselves form the structure. Hand-knotted rugs are typically thinner, more durable over generations, and command the highest prices in the rug world.
Hand-tufted rugs are made by punching yarn through a backing fabric using a hand-tufting gun, following a pre-drawn design. It's faster than hand-knotting, still entirely done by hand and still requires real skill — building even pile height, following intricate colour lines, carving texture — but it makes more complex, colourful designs achievable at a more accessible price point. A canvas backing is applied afterward for structure.
House of Souravi offers both techniques. Most of the collection — pieces like Fern Trail and Canyon Agate — is hand-tufted, the technique that lets us work in the kind of detailed, multi-colour, texturally varied designs you'll see across the collection. Our dedicated Hand-Knotted Collection — including Lilac Meadow and Cypress Garden — is knotted the slower, traditional way for a denser, heirloom-quality piece. Both techniques are made entirely by hand in Bhadohi, India — the difference is in the tool and the structure, not the skill involved.