Tribal Yalameh Carpets
Yalameh is a well-known name in tribal Persian rug weaving. Yalameh is the name of a village in Char Mahal Bakhtiar state in southern Iran, which, since 1920 has become home for Turkish-speaking Qashqai nomad families. Natural vegetable dyes are widely used in Yalameh carpets and the wool used is locally produced and famous for its soft texture and beautiful sheen.
Tribal Persian rugs at affordable prices.
Tribal Rugs purchased from us are unique and inexpensive.
During our trips to Iran we seek out and buy the most interesting village produced rugs which we call: woven modern arts.
These rugs are sold at the most affordable prices possible and they can transform your room to a beautiful and warm living environment.
Persian Carpet weaving in Zoroastrian city of Yazd
Antique Yazd, 300x200cm, Circa 1900.
The city of Yazd has a long history of fine textile weaving, in particular hand-loom silk fabrics. Due to the arrival of machine-made fabrics, weavers in Yazd started to learn and practice carpet weaving instead. Read More
Balouch Rugs
pictorial nomadic Balouch, Circa 1930
Pictorial Nomadic Balouch, circa 1930
The Balouch tribes, renowned for their carpets, are ancient.
They are referred to throughout early Persian literature.
Arabzadeh Carpet weaving workshop, Tehran- Iran
Arabzadeh master weavers workshop.
Rassam Arabzadeh was born in 1914 . He was the son of a prominent painter, Hussein Zaidi Latifi, who was from an Arab family which had lived in Tabriz since the late nineteenth century. From a young age Rassam loved and had a passion for poetry, calligraphy, and miniature painting. A move to Tehran at the age of 16 meant that he was able to enrich his artistic skills, and during the Second World War, when he was 25, he moved back to his birthplace, Tabriz, to help his father. This was where he began engaging in the art of carpet weaving. Because of the combination of Rassam’s knowledge of traditional motifs and his modern painting skills, he was able to create beautiful works of art, which connected the past to the twentieth-century turmoil which he witnessed. Rassam believed that the art of painting was to be preserved in the art of knotting, and arranged carpet weaving workshops, encouraging his students to weave his designs.
Small world-great asylum
Persian Carpets woven by Afshar Tribe living in Southern Persia
Afshar nomads are related to Kurdish nomads who used to live near the border between the two provinces of Kurdistan and Eastern Azerbaijan, north western region of Persia.
During the war between the Ottoman and Safavi Empires (Turks & Persians) in the 15th century, many clans were forced to flee their homeland near the border and moved deep into safer provinces in Persia. Nomadic Afshar people were one of these tribes who made a mass migration deep into the south (Kerman province) and settled around the towns of Shahr-Babak, Sirjan and the village of Pardsir.
Majid’s trip to Shiraz ( southern Iran) & meeting with Qashqai nomads in 2005
Majid’s trip to Shiraz( southern Iran) & meeting with Qashqai nomads in 2005
Nomadic Qashqai, early 20th C
Qashqai rug, tree of life design( Majid's collection)
There is a measure of anxiety, in this era of globalization that traditional cultures, like the nomadic groups of Iran, are endangered, and will soon be ‘lost’. This anxiety, though understandable, fails to recognise how vibrant and adaptable such cultures are. When I visited the nomads of Iran, I saw that these people had adapted their traditional lifestyles to fit the demands and conditions of contemporary urban society. Animals had in some cases been replaced by trucks, woven saddle bags had given way to sewn together pieces of fabric, crops were being cultivated in rented plots, and children were attending schools in towns and cities. At the same time, these innovations were often carried out in tandem with traditional cultural expression of the nomads – the daily walk with the herd to higher land, the spinning of wool and weaving of kilims and carpets, the long peaceful afternoons spent in the tent, spinning wool, chatting and smoking.
Largest Persian rug woven in modern times unveiled in Iran
Even in today’s economic environment, there are still orders coming from palaces, presidential offices, parliament houses and places of worship around the world to make very large Persian rugs in Iran. Just recently, there was an order from the main Abu Dhabi mosque in United Arab Emirate (UAE).
This rug is measured 133 x 41 meters ( 5,453 square meters or 60,468 square feet) larger than a football pitch and it was made on nine different looms in nine-piece sections and joined together after delivery.
There are over thousand stylised flowers woven in the field of this Persian rug with many other motifs surrounding them in 25 different colours as can be seen in the picture.
The motifs in this Persian rug are designed to reflect the sculptured work in the ceiling of the mosque, giving it a colourful reflection of life under the prayer’s feet.
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My visit to Tehran’s Persian Carpet Museum, April 2011
Very fine Drokhsh (c.1900 ) 528x364 cm, 600,000 knots per SQ/Metre
Iran’s most famous Persian Carpet Museum is situated in the Middle of Tehran city next to the Laleh Hotel ( formerly the Intercontinental).
Built in 1974, this museum exhibits most rare and beautiful examples of 17th to early 20th Century antique carpets which HAVE been collected since 1970 by the museum.
In the foyer of this museum there are 7 extra large carpets hanging, each a beautiful example of their specific type.
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