Kerman Carpet

History

Saljuq, Mongol, Afghan and even Safavid were not interested in Kerman and only Aqa Mohammad Khan attacked and destroyed this city, which was rebuilt after a time. Nevertheless, comparing with other important cities Kerman was a poor city.
In the past Kerman was in the way of caravans traveling to India, which made it very important.
Carpet weaving is very old in Kerman. The oldest carpet discovered in Kerman belongs to about 500 years ago, which proves the precedence of weaving in this city.
According to historical documents, this famous rug has been exported to India in Akbar Gourkani Emperor period (17th century).
In 1604 A.D. a Portuguese tourist, called "Pedro Teshira", has classified Kerman rugs as the second grade carpet and said: "Yazd rugs have the best images, finest weaving and are the most precious ones, while third grade valuable rugs are woven in Khorasan".
Jean Chardin, a French jeweler and tourist, who has stayed in Iran for a while in the last quarter of 17th century A.D., has mentioned to the export of Kerman rugs to India. He has also noticed that rugs known as Turkish in European markets have been woven generally in Kerman and more in Systan, but were entered into Europe via Turkey.
The most magnificent Kerman rugs belonged to "Prince Roman Sangoshko", which are known by the same name throughout the world and are masterpieces of carpet weaving in Safavid era.
Carpet weaving has been very common in Kerman from long times ago, so that name of Kerman has always been a reminder of carpet weaving . Kerman rug is so famous that even in Persian literature symbolizes resistant, stable and strong people.
Other industries of Kerman are textile, wool beating, spinning, wood and cashmere , but it is worth to notice, that carpet weaving is their main occupation.
In decades of 1920 and 1930 the Americans were organizing carpet weaving in Kerman, so in 1935 about 90% of Kerman woven were exported to the United States of America. After that local merchants took the market and when World War II finished Kerman rug export continued.

Important Designs and Images

Vase image and triple-weft group of Kerman rugs:
Distinct weaving of Kerman rug in Safavid era contained un-symmetric (Persian) knot with a woolen pile, which was common in Safavid urban weaving centers.
Among the other particularities of Safavid Kerman rugs was weaving with triple-weft style.
First and third weft, from yarn, and middle weft, from silk, moved wavy into front and back surfaces of rug through warps and and hid beneath a pile's knot. Vase design is used in the ground of this group, so that triple-weft vase design was regarded as Kerman weaving style among some European researches.
One of the famous designs, which belongs to triple-weft vase design group of Kerman, is one which at the first look seems that the ground of rug is occupied by random scattered basic images like red rose, palm leaves, tendril and separated single vases; but a more precise look shows that ground contains three different sets of motives, which are bounded within three group of branches, making orderly networks and technically are called "Panel".
Garden and Scenery images are also used in weaving of this group, known as triple-weft vase.

Dyeing

One of the most particularities of Kerman rugs is its various and shiny colours.
These dyes with different herbal and animal origins are about 30 colours, which are resulted by mixing various dyes.
Crimson colours are from non-herbal dyes. Fire-red is the most attractive colour among those and is made from cochineal.
Using such a coloured wool or white wool is one of the reasons of Kerman rug's high quality; also because of the lack of water and pasture deficiency, husbandry is not optimal.
Therefore, deposit of high quality, wool production is not sufficient, so part of necessary high quality wool is provided from other provinces, such as Tehran.

Design

Different type of Kerman rug designs and images are:
Corner-Medallion
Flowered and flowerless plain-weave
Ordinary plain-weave
Cluster of grape
Meadow floral
Columned
Si-o-Se Pol
Beetroot leaf
Ghab Qorani
Vase
Types of paisley images specially Aigrette
repeated patterns like Panel, Lozenge
inlaid
composite-derivative patterns such as tapestry
Gol Farang
Human being
Face
...
There is a wide variety of these images, while each one has its own design, shape and taste, which has resulted in numerous images of Kerman Rug.
Other common types are different kinds of Tree images such as:
Medallion
Without Medallion
Corner
Without Corner
Scenery
Without Scenery
...
In the past, except "Aigrette" and "Seram" images, "Palmette flower" was the most common image in Kerman rugs; today also contains tens of various styles and shapes.

Isfahan Carpet
Geography of Isfahan

Isfahan is the centre of Isfahan province and is placed in a vast region of Central Iran, abounded by Zagros and Central Mountains and ended to "Kavir Lut" and "Kavir Namak" Deserts. As Zayande-Roud River passes through Isfahan, not only freshens its climate, but also brings the land to the high potential of agriculture and pastorals. Isfahan is within 424 kilometers South of Tehran. It is in 51,40' East longitude and 32,37' North latitude. Isfahan is in 1590 meter above the sea level and extends to Kashan and Natanz from north, Yazd from East, Abadeh from South and Najafabad and Golpayegan from West.

History

It is a long time since Isfahan has became one of the most important cities of Iran, because of placing in the way of Major roads and also existence of Zayandeh-Roud River.
Isfahan's flourishing period was in Safavid era when the capital was transferred from Tabriz to Qazvin and then to Isfahan, to obtain more security. They had the best crafts and art in "Shah Abbas" Period, such as magnificent architectural buildings, enamel works, Inlaying, engraving on silver, gilding, embroidery and weaving; and also had a good business of those goods. Many tourists, as Chardin and the English, have travelled to Isfahan in that period.
Weaving was also flourished in Safavid era. By the time of Mongol invasion to Iran (in 1722 A.D.), and fall of Safavid dynasty, this craft also was stood still.
Not until 1920's, between two world wars, weaving was taken seriously by the people of Isfahan. They started to weave Safavid designs and again became one of the most important poles of Iranian weaving. Isfahan carpet is most wanted in world market and has many customers in western countries.

Rug in the city of Isfahan

Isfahan rug is one of the fine woven carpets, that number of its wale is above 40 (Isfahan rugs have 800 knots per square inch). Knots are Persian (asymmetric) and usually with double weft, so rugs have been woven finely.
In Isfahan, like other Persian weaving parts, such as Kashan, Qom, Kerman, Yazd, … knitting is done by hand without using a hook. Isfahan weavers, do wefts by a wooden tool called "Koji", but they hit knots on the warp by heavy combs. Usually Isfahan rug is woven in small and middle sizes and hardly in big sizes. They are mostly in 1.1/2 zar, two zar, curtain size, …(zar =104 cm). It is hardly seen that runners have been woven in Isfahan.
Fine woven rugs and silk motives of Isfahan are very famous and outstanding. Usually these rugs are woven on silk warp. Fringes of these rugs sometimes reach to 15 centimeters. Round shaped rugs are also woven here.
Shawl (a kind of kilim weaving) in final part of rugs (3-5 wale) is another customs of carpet weaving in Isfahan.
Vertical looms are used in weaving of Isfahan carpets. In Isfahan looms a piece of wood, called "Pelepich", is used that passes through strings of lower warp and connected by metal wires to beneath of loom. This wooden piece helps in a final part of weaving, when lowering down the rug and also short warp knotting occurs, when knotting upper warps on the top of loom is not possible weaving will be continued by transferring "Pelepich" to upper level and passing upper warps through and connecting it to the top of loom by metal wires.
Turkish knots are also used in Isfahan weaving. These knots are used only in rugs named "Armenian Weaving", which are woven in other cities of this province, such as in Isfahan, plain parts are usually woven by double knots and fine parts (fine motives) by single knots. Some of weavers use more delicate piles in some parts of fine motives. This difference in delicateness of piles makes lower piles of fine motives, which is called "Low Weaving Carpet".

Materials and Colours

Wool and cotton using in Isfahan rugs is supplied from Isfahan, Kerman and Kermanshah provinces and also foreign countries such as France and Australia.
Most of dyes are chemical.
In special cases, like in very fine, artful and precious rugs, natural dyes used. Natural dyes are mostly madder and weed.
Isfahan Rugs usually have many different colours, sometimes more than fourteen. Designers usually select their colours on bases of turquoise, dark blue, red, beige and cream.

Kashan Carpet

Nowadays, it has to be said, that Kashan weavers are inheritance of textures, braid, velvet with satin weaving, gold textures and taffeta weaving, that made Iran well-known even in the farthest parts of the world as "Hormozian Textures".
Today Kashan with great weaving of rugs is honour of museums and private collections and has a great role in recreation of art in Iran. It must be reminded that senior carpet weaver of Kashan, known as "Sheikh Safi", was "Maghsoud Kashani".
Historical problems, damage of industrial development, bringing of weaving machines to villages, as well as appearance of different European machine-made texture and clothes and irrelevant entrance, cause damages to Kashan. Only villages who had sufficient experience in carpet weaving and also ready to accept it as a basis of living had a great role in this field.
Continuous droughts in Kashan cause such a development in weaving that only 1/8 of all the villages of this region doesn't have any association with this profession; these villages were in the low-populated or deserted areas. This includes many inhabitants directly or indirectly to various relevant jobs, such as cotton-beating, spinning, warp winding, drawing and dealing.
Kashan rug weaving regions include Kashan, Natanz, and Jushaghan and spread to some parts of Golpayegan, Mahallat, Ardestan and Isfahan.
It seems that carpet weaving in Kashan came back to Safavid Era. Gold Textures and precious rugs which were woven in that period, are masterpieces of dyeing and weaving. At that time, Kashan rug weaving raised to the highest point and artists wove precious specimen and memorials that today some of those are sought numerous enthusiasts in great museums of the world.Unfortunately, after that period texture and weaving in this region stood still and dissipated like other parts of the country.
Reestablishment of rug weaving in this town owes to the efforts of "Hajj Hassan", "Hajj Mohammad Jafar Isfahanian" and "Hossein Kashi". Establishing machine weaving units, persuade many weavers to weave rugs as well.
"Mohtasham" is another well-known designer of Kashan, who presented splendid initiatives and attractive designs in contemporary period of Kashan rug. He put Kashan carpets to the highest point of beauty. One of his well-known designs, which was woven about 75 years ago, is a whole silk 11/2 Zar(159x108 cm.) rug. There is no need to praise fine weaving, equivalent colours and most of all elegant designs of this rug.

Design

They mostly weave flower designs with curved lines, including Palmette Flower, Corner-Medallion, All-over Palmette flower, Overall Vase, Mosque Lamp, Tree design in ground of Prayer niche, Indian Joshaghan, Hajj Khanomi Vase, Garden Scenery and other images.
Palmette flower is mostly woven in warm colour ground. This kind of rug, which is most wanted in domestic markets, doesn't have a good market in foreign countries.Traditional Corner-Medallion design of Kashan is a fine extended dark blue medallion in a crimson ground that is repeated in corners and margins, or vice versa, medallion in crimson in a dark blue ground. This design is woven in some weaving centres of Iran such as Kashmar, Yazd, Ardestan, and also in Egypt.

Na'in Carpet

As noted before, Na’in carpet is woven in various places in Iran beside the Na’in region itself – a trend prompted by the success and reputation of Na’in carpet. No doubt , there are few places in Iran that have the capability and the know-how for the production of carpet type of recognized record and identity – and Na’in, undoubtedly, is one of those locations even taking into account its presumably short history of carpet weaving and its use of Isfahan patterns.

Technical Features

Raw Materials: With the reputation it has won in world markets Na’in carpet does not belong to the category in which the use of coarse Iranian wool may be seen as an advantage. Na’in carpet wool is of a delicate type with a high proportion of the finer quality known as soft-pile or “fleece” wool
Pattern and Design: The most original pattern used in Na’in carpets is composed of those traditionally recognized as Shah-Abbasi (with floral and leaf motifs mainly in the form of lotus blossoms), eslimi (arabesque) corner-medallion, ornate pendants and other patterns associated with Iranian traditional folk arts. Such proper use of traditional patterns with special coloring has won Na’in Carpet a distinction - an extraordinary identity – that is recognized the world over. There are other traditional patterns and referred to by special terms in the Persian arts lexicon, for example: gonbad (i.e. dome ,depicting the inner surface of a dome), Haj Khanomi (depicting a window to a garden ), derakhti (tree forms), ghabi (panel), usually vertical stripes, afshan (overall repetition), latchak-toranj (corner-medallion), katibe’i (inscription), and tarikhi (historical monuments).
Dyeing: Na’in carpet is a brilliant example of the application of natural and traditional colours, owing a major portion of its reputation to its vegetal dyes
Save for minor differences, the dyeing method with natural dyes in Na’in is similar to the methods in other carpet weaving centres that use traditional dyes. Natural colours are obtained in major part from pomegranate peed, walnut crust, madder roots, weld and vine leaves as well as from qermezdaneh – the insect cochineal, which is a major source of red pigment, and which lends its Persian name to “Crimson”.
Industrially produced indigo (indigo tin) is usually used for tones of blue and azure. Yellow is obtained from weld, a mixture of weld and indigo yields - green, brownish (“rat”) grey is made from pomegranate peel, and orange from a combination of weld and madder roots.
Weave and Finish: Na’in carpets have Farsi knots and double weft. The weave is done with high technical precision: normal weaving flows such as off-line twists, missing wefts, uneven weaves, off-shade and wrong knots are seen very seldom and the quality of production is of high standard.
Looms are generally of wood. Loom installation, wrap-running and carpet dismounting methods, are the same as those in use in Isfahan and Kashan, all being done by individuals that have great dexterity in their works.

Mashhad Carpet

Khorasan consists of two words "Khor" and "Asan", it means "rising sun" which is "Matla-o-shams" in ancient texts (where sun rises). In old times this land was a vast and thriving country and during centuries was divided into various parts owing to wars and incapability of governors; so some parts of this land is placed in Russia or Afghanistan. Actually Khorasan is a small part of the old Great Khorasan.

This province is one of the most important centres of carpet weaving in Iran and this industry has a very special prominence. One may realize this prominence by estimation of number of labours and weavers which amount to 140000 working in this field of industry in Khorasan.
Carpet weaving of Khorasan has seen its most flourishing era in 1500 years, during The Kingdom of Shahrokh Mirza Teymourid dynasty. Herat, the Capital city of this dynasty, known as a city of Artists and Miniaturists, was active in every branch of Art, specially carpet weaving. This art, after flourishing period, at the end of Safavid era started to decline drastically as far as the end of Qajar dynasty.
Nowadays, art of carpet weaving is in debt to Tabriz' merchants who established many carpet weaving workshops and encouraged carpet weavers of Tabriz to move to Khorasan for advancement of this ancient profession. Since those days designs and techniques of Azerbaijan carpets were prevalent in Meshed by artisans who had resided in that holy city (Khorasan center) owing to their religious sentiments as well as professional interests.
Wool needed for carpets of Khorasan was mostly provided from cattle raisers in the north of province, such as Torbat, Neishabour, Ghouchan and Meshed. Carpets of Khorasan are woven with Turkish and Persian knots.Some weavers who work on Persian knots use fraudulous or double knots to save time and material.
Designs mostly used in Khorasan carpets are flower design, corner medallion, overall flower design, vase design, overall, paisley design and the most common is "Herat". Indian style is also highly prevalent in Khorasan carpets. Those designs are exclusively woven by Baluch or Turkmen which will be studied following.
In Khorasan, natural dyes are mostly used. Colours are not extended widely but are limited to red, scarlet, navy blue, turquoise, beige mustard and brown.
Some workshops leave wool for 24 hours in lime water. This wrong method together with soft quality of wool and monotony of colours are reasons of devaluation of Khorasan carpets. If it was not because high operational value of some workshops such as Amoghli, Makhmalbaf and Khamenei, which have prepared some exquisite carpets to the collection of Persian carpets, Khorasan carpet might stand in a lower class of museum carpets. Herat, which is now a province of Afghanistan, in old Great Khorasan has been a capital city and much favoured by many kings. Carpets woven in that country were all called as Herat and this title is still in use. In those days all products of a province were called after the central city, therefore it is supposed that Herat carpets were made mostly in villages and numerous hamlets of Khorasan.
Designs of Khorasan carpets at the end of 12th and 13th centuries were central medallion, which is in fact a collection of decorative figures and elements in the middle of carpet. Balance between the central medallion and the empty ground was compensated by using a few narrow fringes.
At the end of the 19th century another design consisted of ornamental elements was prevalent which covered monotonously the entire background. This design imposed necessity of wider or bigger margins, composed of more cadres, mostly red and brown colours over background. This may be a reason for implementation of more margins in eastern carpets, number of the central medallion and its form is variable in connection with the size of carpet, which changes from spherical to lozenge or almond shaped. Those carpets usually have some epigraphs from famous poets of Iran such as Hafiz, but modern epigraphs have ornamental figures.
Grounds of carpets have mostly vases of flowers, upside and downside which have four corners at the sides. Regardless of central medallion and epigraphs, empty ground is decorated with flowers around medallion. Margins have Herat flowers and shrub of flowers, inspired from Keshmir flowers. Hunting ground carpets of Khorasan, having scene of animal hunting such as gazelle, wolf, fox, goat and birds, differ from other designs. Colours mostly have herbal origin and present some attractive figures.
Wool in these carpets is soft and luminous with a medium length and a short pile. While constant production is in way, there is a tendency to substitute another design called „fish“, which covered the entire surface of Bijar, Senneh, Hamadan and Farahan carpets, organize the margin of most carpets of old Khorasan and a few Minakhani designs.

Mashhad

Central city of Khorasan with a 909 km. distance from Tehran (North-east), North to Daregaz and Ghouchan, East to Iranian border of Turkmenistan Republic and Afghanistan, South to Torbat Jam and Torbat Heydarieh and West to Neishabour. Meshed is located in a plain between two chains of mountains, Binaloud and Hezar-Masjed, has 36 degree and 16 m. Northern wide and 59 degree 38 m. eastern length with a height of 985m sea level.
The holy city of Meshed having the shrine of 8th Imam of Shiite and crowd of pilgrims plus its special geographic position is a centre of transactions for carpet in eastern side of Iran, in which carpets of Meshed and rustic carpets, Baluch hand-woven rugs, Turkmen's carpet and rugs and even Afghani carpets go under research.
In Hazrat Reza Museum there are some precious expensive carpets, some of them having the name of gift maker and the date of weaving are the best for recognition of Iranian carpets.
Carpet weavers of Meshed, more than 22000 usually make carpet with a size of 6 meters and up, somewhat wide and quadric-forms mostly 3x2.5 m2 in red colors, following their habit they usually pass (two thin thread and one thick) through the wraps. Using livestock products, such as wool and for has been prevalent since old days, therefore textile industry was a frequent profession among the public. So Meshed may be counted as one of the most prominent centre of carpet weaving of Iran and world.
In private and public carpet weaving workshops in Meshed many beautiful designs are woven, such as medallion, flower, under-earth, Sheikh-Safi and prayer-rugs. Skilful designers being proud of introducing their profession as an art and respected job try hard for advancement of their profession - carpet weaving. They use natural herbal colours such as indigo, yellow weed, walnut skin pomegranate and chemical colours, however, colour of Meshed carpets is always stable and invariable.
Carpet of Meshed is thick, resistant, hard, durable while its wool is softer than the wool of many other regions of Iran. Quality of wool is good enough to supply more than half quantity needed for local weavers.
Ordinary carpets of Meshed have less than 40 wale. Although carpet of Meshed is not as desirable as Tabriz, but due to reasonable price and durability is ideal for many families.
In villages around Meshed, there are many carpet workshops which follow the method of Meshed weavers, but they are not as desirable as Meshed's itself. Products of villages such as Torghebeh, Jaghargh, Anbaran, Zoshk and Noghand could not attract consumers as much though they are not completely out of Meshed's quality.

Tabriz Carpet
History

Age of Tabriz city extends to the pre-Islam time. After Mongol's attack to Iran Tabriz was chosen as a capital city by "Qazan Khan". After that, restoring and flourishing of Tabriz, which was ruined by an earthquake, started again.
In Safavid era Tabriz became the capital city again, but after a while it changed to Qazvin and afterwards to Isfahan. At this time, repeated wars between Iran and Ottoman Empire and several occupations of Tabriz caused large damage to this city.
Afghan invasion to Iran, wars between Iran and Russia in Qajar era and challenging for establishment of constitutional government (Mashrouteh) are some other events of Tabriz. Nowadays Tabriz is one of the most important economical poles in Iran.

History of Weaving

Carpet weaving in Tabriz has long precedent but since 17th century DC., by the beginning of Iran carpet export to other parts of world, specially Europe, people involved in carpet industry in Tabriz have also started weaving rugs, regarding the taste of new European and American customers.
These rugs have captured those countries' markets. Just like the other social movements in Iran, Tabriz population has been the pioneer in rising carpet weaving and also had a great role; so the regained flourish of declining weaving, at the end of Qajar era and the beginning of Pahlavi period, its entering to the world markets and spreading in all regions of Iran was only the result of intelligence and keenness of merchants and weavers of this region.
Nowadays Tabriz rugs is one of the most valuable carpets in Iran and in the world. These rugs could be visited in famous world museums. Also this rug has plenty of customers who are interested in Tabriz carpet trading.

Particularities of Tabriz Rug: Knots and Tools
Finest Iranian rugs are weaving in Tabriz, which is due to high number of wales. The unit of wale number is knot.In Tabriz, knots are counted in every 7 cm. Rugs are at least 12 and at most 80 knotted.Knots are usually symmetrical and firmly tied by hook and double weft.
Tabriz loom or non-fixed loom is an invention of Tabriz people. Their other carpet weaving tools are similar to other parts of Iran. Tabriz loom is a simple frame, containing two beams (Sareh) which are attached to each other by "Doyan" or "Yanliq" (right bars). For stabilization of the loom two columns are used as supports. The attachment point of these columns with "Sareh" is called "Koulfeh".

Particularities of Tabriz Rug: Materials
Material used in Tabriz weaving is mostly strong cotton thread. Silk thread is also used in "complete silk", "whole silk" or "silk wrap" carpets; maybe the most valuable Iranian rugs are Tabriz wrap silk rugs.
Azerbaijan is one of the most important husbandry and sheep breeding centers, therefore the greatest part of needed wool for weaving is produced in Makou, Khoy, Mahabad, ... This wool is spinned either by hand or in factories.

Particularities of Tabriz Rug: Designs
Costumer's taste has an important role in carpet's design in Tabriz. They update old designs so could sell their rugs better and this is one of the reasons of Tabriz carpet flourish in carpet trading.
Unlike the other regions, Tabriz weaver does not fanatically limit himself. He (she) uses all beautiful images and combines various designs and finally creates a design, which each part of it belongs to a different region. Combination of Kerman medallion, Meshed corner and Kashan margin creates attractive and beautiful designs for Tabriz weaving. Some of these designs keep their particularities and are not very different from their origin. Therefore, there are not few cases that is said "Tabriz rug with Kashan design", "Tabriz rug with Isfahan images"...
The most famous Tabriz design is "Fish" with a medallion inside. Common images in Tabriz are Arabesque, Palmette flower and corner-medallion, that all-over flower, types of hunting, Sheikh Safi, Scenery, underground, four seasons, Cashmere paisley, types of fish, tree, vase, frame, Hennah flower, Gul Farang, tapestry, ... are added to those for main images.
Portrait designs, specially ones belong to designing masters, like Bahadori and Rassam Arabzadeh, are also woven in Tabriz.

Particularities of Tabriz Rug: Dyeing and Colours
Colours in Tabriz rug are both in harmony with each other and with a customer's taste. Entrance of chemical dyes to Iran and their production caused less usage of natural dyes, which is more observed in Tabriz carpet.
Natural dyes, used from old times in Tabriz, are madder (red), cochineal (red and fire red) and weld (yellow). Combination of yellow and indigo produces grass-green, olive-green colors. Mouse-grey or black earth, which locally is called "qara torpakh", is taken from the mines of “Mishehbar” in Arasbaran. There is a great colour variety in Tabriz rugs, especially in pictorial rugs.

Particularities of Tabriz Rug: Production
Three groups of people are involved in carpet weaving. First group involves in raw material supplying; second involves in weaving and third group involves in carpet trading.
First group: Having temperate climate and good pasture, have resulted good husbandry in Azerbaijan. Therefore very glittery raw material supplying industries exist in Azerbaijan and its workers to experts are definitely very skilful. Secondary industrines, like dying, wool spinning,... have their own necessary factors too.
Second group is divided into two main groups of designers and weavers, each contains workers to experts in hierarchical organization. Regarding skill and creativity, labour and physical strength workers of Tabriz carpet weaving are in a high level. For instance, these workers can weave 8000 knots per day on average and there are also some workers who have woven 15000 knots per day.
Instead of individual weaving at home, weaving in Tabriz is mostly done in workshops containing about 100 looms. According to the recent statistics (1998), 32150 weavers were working on 16000 looms. Sadaqiyani, Ipakchi, Mahmoudof, Dimqani, Ordubadi, Tehranchi, Mahqani, Salmasi, Antikchi, Javan, Alabaf, Emad, Tabatabai, Nezamdoust, Pournami, Etemadi and Vahidzadeh are among the famous workshops in Tabriz.

Yazd Carpet

Yazd is an ancient city of Iran, which is bordered on desert (Kavir). Yazd is placed between Isfahan and Kerman. It reaches from the North to “Dashte Kavir”, from the East to “Kavir lut” Desert and Tabas, from the South to Kerman and Rafsanjan and from the West to Abadeh and Qomsheh. Yazd is within 689 km in South of Tehran. It is in 54, 25’ of east longitude and 31,53’ of North latitude. It is 1222m. about the sea level. Yazd is situated among mountains with 3600 metre high.
Considerable numbers of Zoroastrian (Iranian) are living in this city. Its architecture is very rich. Many high wind-towers are in this city that Yazd is known as wind tower city.
Yazd is one of the rug weaving centers of Iran. Active people of this city, who have Persevered in weaving industry, proceeded rug weaving as well.
“Joe Zafu Barbaro”, who traveled to Iran in “Ozun Hassan” era, wrote about Yazd “… all of the people are busy with spinning and weaving various silk textiles… . They export most of these texture to India, Iran, Central Asia, some parts of China, Russia, Turkistan,… .”
In Yazd carpet weaving started in 19th century, but it was during world war II, where Yazd rug has been known in Western countries.
Ancient Yazd rug images were Herat, with ground in blue and chequer design, but new rugs have Kerman rug designs as well as corner-medallion and over all flower designs of Isfahan and Kashan styles.
Its loom is vertical and knots are usually asymmetric with double wefts. Yazd rugs are mostly large with long fluffs. Generally Yazd rugs are not delicate and fine and number of its knots reaches to 100 to 200 per square inch. Yazd rugs, in compare with Nain and Isfahan rugs, are not fine, but methodical weave and use of fine wool, as well as natural shining dyes, made Yazd rugs well-known. So according to the mentioned characteristics, its price is reasonable. That makes Yazd rugs popular.
Ghabeh Quran, Corner-Medallion, Tree and Herat are the most common images among Yazd weavers. Wool is the basic material of rug weaving. Yazd weavers supply wool from other cities, like Tehran and Isfahan. As Yazd is in desert region, husbandry is not brisk, so little wool is produced.
Particular characteristics of Yazd rug weaving is more usage of natural dyes than other parts of Iran, which have more Quality and brightness. Of course, it must be considered that chemical dyes are used in Yazd rug as well.

Qom Carpets

QOM Carpet Properties:

Visibility: QOM (QUM) rugs and carpets have an excellent visage. The majority are small (Ghaliche), very fine, and beautiful, so many people hang them on the wall. The patterns are usually highly curve-linead (city style), but they sometimes depict landscape features or historical stories.

Quality: The quality of QOM (QUM) rugs and carpets varies. Newer ones are much better in quality and pattern. Most high quality QOM (QUM) rugs and carpets are made of pure silk with very high KPSI and are among the finest looking rugs in IRAN and the world.

Size & Shapes: The majority of QOM (QUM) rugs and carpets are small to mid-size (3 x 5 to 5 x 7 feet).

Colour: QOM (QUM) rugs and carpets come in a variety of colours, but red, blue, and ivory are very common.

Texture: Soft silk; very thin pile; Kork wool.

Foundation: Warps is mostly cotton; wefts is either silk, cotton, or wool.

Knots: Weavers in QOM (QUM) use Persian knots. The quality of the carpet depends upon the number of knots, which varies, but averages from around 120 KPSI (30 knots) up to 842 KPSI (80 knots).

Shiraz Carpets

SHIRAZ Carpet Properties:

Visibility: SHIRAZ rugs and carpets usually have nomadic patterns with pole medallions or small medallions scattered all over the carpet. They are great choices for wooden floors. Due to the proximity of the QASHQAI tribe, SHIRAZ rugs and carpets bear some similarity to the QASHQAI carpets.
Quality: SHIRAZ rugs and carpets are of good quality. They are durable and great for places that people walk often. Remember, tribal rugs and carpets are much stronger than city rugs.
Size & Shapes: SHIRAZ rugs and carpets come in different sizes, but the majority of them are mid-size (4 x 6 to 8 x 10 feet). It is very hard to find large size (10 x 18 feet).
Colour: Strong red and brown is the main indicator of SHIRAZ rugs and carpets. Other colours such as light green and khaki are found in newer ones.

Texture: SHIRAZ rugs and carpets usually are thick and do not have very tight pile.

Foundation: Warps is mostly wefts; weft is either cotton or wool.

Knots: SHIRAZ rugs and carpets are usually flat woven. The quality of the carpet depends on the number of knots, which varies, but averages from around 120KPSI (30 knots).

Qashqai carpets

QASHQAI Carpet Properties:

Visibility: QASHQAI rugs usually have a geometric patterns, including geometric animal and bird drawings used both as part of the repeating patterns and filler ornaments. The borders of QASHQAI rugs and carpets in particular include many highly developed floral designs. As with other nomad rugs, multiple borders are a sign of later weavings.

Quality: QASHQAI rugs vary in quality. Older QASHQAI rugs and runners (around 1950) are very good, but some of the newer ones are made with chemical rather than vegetable dyes and are of lower quality.

Size & Shapes: QASHQAI rugs and runners come in different sizes, but the majority of them are mid-size (4 x 6 to 8 x 10 feet).

Colour: The dyes in older QASHQAI rugs and runners (1950 and earlier) are derived from natural sources, including madder (red), indigo (blue), and the classic gold/yellow hue. It is difficult, however, to find newer ones made with vegetable dyes.

Texture: Soft wool; thin, tight pile.

Foundation: Warps is mostly cotton; wefts is either cotton or wool.

Knots: Inspection of the back of the carpet is importan, because the weavers in the QASHQAI tribe use flat weave.