IRAN handmade carpet is one of the oldest art done by human in the world. As we know thousand year ago cavemen use to warm them self with animal skin, slowly they learn to weave by using leaves and grass to make pile-less carpet.
There is no record when carpet was first made, however the oldest carpet “PAZIRIK” is know available at the ARMITAGE MUSEUM which is 2500 years old. The name is given after they believe that this carpet belong to the King of Iran or Persian as the designs are of horses with their whale . The magnificent Persian carpets can be found at all famous museum in the world.
Our Company “ PERSIAN COLLECTIONS” is here to let art lovers all over the world know more about Persian Carpet.
There are three types of Persian Carpets: the City, Village and Tribal.
“The City Carpet” usually come with 400thousand to 1 (one) million knot per square meter where each knot takes approximately 5 seconds to weave. The carpets are designed by famous designers and weave by other person by using only silk or wool.
“The Village Carpet” is made by the locals base on the own creative imaginations, it come in less than 400 thousand knot per square meter.
“The Tribal Carpet” as it is called, is made by different tribes from Iran. The designs on this carpets usually are of animals and geometric.
The older carpets are colours by vegetable dyes, but the newer generations of carpets makers prefer to use the chemical dyes, as the colours are more vibrant. Persian Carpets are made by hand and the patience and skill that go into the thousands of knots are almost beyond belief. The secret of their magnificence lies in the choice of material, the richness of the colour, the beauty of the design, and the number of knots per Square Meter. Which called manufacturing techniques, here some of the technique: -
<1> Material
Wool - Quality is a key factor in importing sheen and durability to a carpet, carpet wool comes from different part of a sheep’s; the best quality wool is from neck and belly of the sheep from mountain and also baby lams wool.
Spinning ~ There are two way can spin the wool – by hand or machine. Wool spin by hand is softer and finer.
Silk ~ some region use silk to weave the carpet, both the warp and weft of some carpets are woven entirety from spun silk. One of the best quality silk carpets came from Qum small city 100 km meter far from Tehran (Capital of Iran).
Cotton – Cotton has the advantage of being hardwearing and capable of retaining its shape. Both warp and weft thread of wool carpets are frequently made from cotton since it has greater tensile strength than wool.
<2> Colours - Vegetable or Chemical Dyes
Vegetable dyes have one important characteristic in general they do not change colours to any great degree overtime. In some instances there even improve with age; there are far from fading and become deeper and more intense as time passes; especially if it has been dyed repeatedly before the weaving process.
The first chemical dyed that appeared in the 1870 was very poor quality. However, the chemical industry has made great improvement after time passes.
<3> Designs
Each carpet has its own beauty its own wealth of inherent intellectual, artistic, emotional and sensory message. If you talk to any experienced carpet merchants who as a rule, will have a keen and informed interest in every item in their gallery.
<4> Knot (Ghereh)
In Persian Carpets, tying a short length of yarn around two adjacent warp strands so the ends of the yarn protrude upwards and form the surface(pile) of the carpet creates the pile .
This process is referred to as knotting. The proximity and density of the knots contribute to the fineness and the long wear of the carpet.
With more knots, the pattern and design of the carpet are highlighted.
In the Persian Carpet weaving two main types of knots are used, the Ghiordes(Turkish)Knot and the Senneh (Persian) knot. Although both knots are from Persia but there are in fact used across many different region. Each has it own advantages and disadvantages and in practice both are considered equally good and the choice of the knot does affect the overall quality of the carpet The motifs are made of thousand of individual knots. The tighter the knots, the finer and the stronger are the carpet.
