Persian Rug Styles

Tabriz

• Tabriz is an historic Iranian rug-weaving center and has been for centuries. The town's location at the foot of a volcano, made it a protected oasis and allowed the rug making industry to grow. Today, Tabriz is one of Iran's most important rug-producing areas. The designs are among the most diverse of contemporary hand woven Persian rugs and are therefore very marketable. Motifs include medallion and corner patterns as well as geometric and pictorial designs and prayer rugs. The color palette ranges from pastels to bright colors and shows a uniformly high degree of artistry. Tabriz carpets are woven with a silk foundation and wool and silk pile. They are collected as an investment, both in Iran and abroad.

Qashghai

• Qashghai are nomadic rugs woven by the tribeswomen of Iran's southwestern Fars province. The Qashghai tribes are a federation of Arab, Kurd, Lur and Turk people who make some of the most highly sought after nomadic rugs on the market. The Qashghai weavers sell their rugs in the provincial capital of Shiraz. (Shiraz itself is not a big carpet producer.) The designs are invariably bright, bold and geometric with shapes superimposed on other shapes. They use diamond and hexagon shapes, birds, flowers and animals and, occasionally, human motifs. One characteristic Qashghai design is a centerpiece figure which is repeated in miniature in each of the four corners of the rug. This typical design, the hebatlu, is generally woven in white fiber. Rug colors include deep blues and reds, green, white, yellow and ochre. Qashghai weavers specialize in a unique design called a gabbeh which is very plain with small geometric caricatures of animals, humans or birds.

Kerman

• Kerman rugs are adapted to the western market. They use very intricate designs and as many as 15 to 30 colors. Antique Kermans were typically a very rich red or red and blue. Today's Kermans are pastel combinations of turquoise, orange, ivory, gray-blue, pink, lime-green and champagne. The designs are curvy, not geometric, and might feature a central medallion with an open field, all-over floral, stripes, gardens, tree of life, animals, hunting scenes, vases and extremely intricate pictorial scenes from Persian or European art. Kerman rugs are woven in southeastern Iran.