Goodluck Rugs was started by its current owner Danney Zhao in the early 1990’s. This was the period of time when French Savonnerie Weaving techniques began arriving in China. In addition to producing authentic Savonnerie weave rugs, Danney also focuses on producing authentic Aubusson weave rugs and tapestries.

When Danney finished college he went to work for the largest rug exporter in China. His goal was to learn the business from the ground up, and that he did. Five years later he had gained the information he thought critical to running an efficient and quality focused rug and tapestry export business. He then branched out on his own and started Goodluck Rugs. Over 15 years has passed and Danney has built a successful international business that serves clients in the US, France, Italy, Germany and other countries.

Goodluck Rugs has one of the largest collections of Savonnerie weave rugs and Aubusson weave rugs and tapestries in the world. One of the reasons that Goodluck Rugs has expanded as it has is the personal attention that is given to each client. Goodluck rugs' products are unique and one of a kind, the same is true of our clients.

In addition to having hundreds of standard rugs and tapestries in the Goodluck Rugs collection, Goodluck Rugs continues to be awarded contracts to produce hand-knotted rugs for world renowned designer collections such as; Versace, Roberto Cavalli, Missoni, Jamie Drake and more. Matching custom colors, shapes, sizes and patterns is no problem for Goodluck Rugs. Goodluck Rugs has even served Royalty by making a custom 17.9X33.4 Bessarabian Rug (a region southwest of Russia between the Black Sea and today’s Romania) for Prince Charles.

If a client finds an image that they like, Goodluck Rugs can produce this same image in a hand-knotted rug, hand woven rug or hand woven tapestry. No project is too large and no project is too small for Goodluck Rugs to produce.

The roots of needle point go back thousands of years to the ancient Egyptians who used small slanted stitches to sew up their canvas tents. There are also many references in the Bible to elaborate needlework on religious articles, including the tent used for worship in ancient Israel.

In the Middle Ages, there were two types of needlework that were forerunners of modern needle point. A kind of embroidery, in 13th century Europe, was done on coarsely woven linen fabric similar to canvas mesh.
Tapestries, also popular in that era, were woven on vertical threads on a loom. In the 16th century, people began to imitate these forms on a canvas background using steel needles, invented around this time. This allowed more intricate work than the fishbone or thorn needles used previously.

During the times of Mary, Queen of Scotts (who did needle point during her long imprisonment), needle point was a pastime of the leisure class. As time went on, its appeal gradually broadened to other parts of society.

During the 16th and 17th centuries embroidery on canvas, or needlepoint gained in popularity where it was used for pictures, upholstery fabric, and fashion accessories.

Needlepoint is the technique of forming stitches on an open-weave fabric called canvas. The canvas is constructed with vertical and horizontal threads that are woven together to make precisely placed holes between threads. The points at which these threads meet are called meshes. Needlepoint designs are more durable than other types of needlecrafts, making them well suited for chair seats, pillows, and rugs.

Most needlepoint designs are printed or hand painted on the canvas. Each color on the canvas represents a yarn or thread color. The stitcher covers each area on the canvas with the corresponding yarn or thread color, using a blunt tapestry needle. Some designs, especially those with a repeating pattern, are stitched on a blank canvas by counting from a pattern or chart.

The most common stitch is called a “continental stitch” or “tent stitch,” and is worked diagonally across the canvas threads. Other stitches are used to create dimension or to add outlines and highlights.

With an increase in leisure time along with the invention of a method of printing colored charts for needle point designs (called "Berlin Work"), needle point finally took its rightful place in style.

Needlepoint was born to recreate the look of woven tapestries.

The word Aubusson is as pretty as the severe, but leafy little town of that name, Aubusson which is located 200 miles from Paris on the river Creuse. The river’s pure waters were used for washing the wool that the people of Aubusson and the neighboring villages wove into the tapestries and rugs which made the region’s reputation in the 18th century.

In the 13th century, French knights returning from the crusades brought with them oriental rugs that they called Tapis Sarrasinois after their Saracen foe. Other Turkish style rugs continued to find their way West, but at the being of the century they were still expensive rarities. As a result, in 1608, Henry IV formally commissioned a weaver named Pierre Dupont, who claimed to have discovered how to make rugs at la facon de perse et du levant, to set up shop in the Louvre. So satisfied was Henry with Dupont’s rugs that before his death in 1610, he decreed that the output of the Louvre Atelier was to be reserved exclusively for the royal family. His son, Louis XIII, was only nine when his father died, but in 1627 at the age of 26 he instructed dupont to open up a new shop at the Savonnerie, a former soapworks factory (“Savon” meaning “soap”).

In 1672, the Louvre Ateliers were transferred to the Savonnerie. Nearly a century later, in 1743, Aubusson began turning out Savonnerie carpets as soon as the exclusive rights of the royal family to such carpets were rescinded – and the import of real Orientals forbidden.

Orry de fulvy, General Controller of finances, noted that for an equivalent surface, an Aubusson contained less knots than a Savonnerie. This meant that deep-pile Aubussons cost less. Now, a whole new market for rugs was opening for lighter-weight and more affordable to furnish the new and fashionable apartments of the petty nobility and expanding upper middle classes. Rugs - flat woven like the tapestries - were the answer, and the first flat-weave Aubussons appeared in about 1768.

The first so called Louis XIII carpet made in about 1660 were extraordinarily fine in texture with a blue or brown ground and floral decoration with Persian inspiration. Under the encouragement of Colbert, Louis IV began to revolutionize the French carpet production with the goal of rivaling carpet production in the Near East.

The Savonnerie tradition can be traced back to Henri IV (1533-1610). During his reign, he became concerned with the outflow of gold from France for the purchase of luxury objects abroad (objects like Tapestries and Carpets). In response, he established artisan workshops in the Louvre. These workshops enabled specially chosen craftsmen, including famous Parisian cabinet makers and bronze casters to exercise their skills.

This taste dates back to the 17th century when diplomatic visits from Ottoman and Persian Emissaries to the court of Louis XV were marked by a dazzling display of fabrics, textiles and carpets. Naturally such visits served as an opportunity for negotiations, ostentatious displays and the exchange of gifts. Sometimes a carpet was presented as a gift and subsequently reproduced. 

After Louis IV lost interest in the Louvre, the carpets were rolled up and sent to the Garde-Meuble and brought out only on special occasions. The carpets survived the 18th century without mishap, but during the French Revolution, their high aesthetic quality caused them to be put up for auction or used as currency. Despite their fate during the French Revolution, these Savonnerie carpets have held their aesthetic quality and value through the centuries. Historians agree that the Savonnerie workshops and resulting.

In 1644, the decision was made to install one of the weaving workshops in an abandoned soap factory in the village of Chaillot, just outside of Paris. It was called Hospice de la Savonnerie. The management of the Factory was entrusted to two entrepreneurs; Pierre Dupont and Simon Lourdet. The “furnishings” made in the new workshops would eventually acquire the name “Savonnerie” after the original purpose of the savon factory, savon meaning soap. The most famous of these manufactories, La Savonnerie, was producing carpets for the court of Louis XIV that were technically, but not aesthetically indebted to Eastern tradition. The designs of these rugs were inspired by contemporary French decoration rather than Oriental carpet design.

Colbert did, in fact, revolutionize French carpet designs with a vast and unified series of carpets celebrating the ‘magnificent, glorious and harmonious’ governance of the Sun King, Louis XIV. During this time La Savonnerie worked mainly for the Royal Garde-Meuble which was in charge of the Palace furnishings. After Louis IV lost interest in the Louvre, the carpets were rolled up and sent to the Garde-Meuble and brought out only on special occasions. The carpets survived the 18th century without mishap, but during the French Revolution, their high aesthetic quality caused them to be put up for auction or

Today, Goodluck Rugs continues this grand tradition by painstakingly replicating the splendor and luxury of these centuries old weaving techniques. Fine quality New Zealand wools on authentic French looms to weave designs marked by a myriad of multi-hued patterns designed to bring new heights of color, clarity and brilliance to the Goodluck Rugs Savonnerie Collection. Each Savonnerie created by Goodluck Rugs is woven after original artwork and is meticulously hand knotted under the strict supervision of our conscientious and expert Master Weavers and Master Colorists. One of our Savonnerie rugs may contain up to 200+ colors, with each individual knot containing between 3-5 colors. This vast array of colors gives our Savonnerie rugs unparalleled depth, dimension and color details leading to exquisite luxury, a touch of history and 17th century decorative art.