Isfahan Silk Handmade Rug

Where are the imported carpets sold?

We rarely see them in Isfahan. They are usually sold in Qom and Tehran. Only experts can diagnose these rugs. They identify the kinds of the knots which are Chines or Maraghehi or Zanjani. This is not everybody's job. We have been the first brand in 4 editions of Shane Bolurin Festival that has been held for 9 editions in Iran. Chines weaved one of our rugs that had gotten the first rank in the festival. We have woven only two of that rug during 10 years which costs 100 to 120 million tomans, but Chines sell its copied version 3,500,000 tomans. Their capital humanity is very cheap. Silk is their own product because the oldest silk in the world is from China. Even they weave finer than us, but they use silk with grade 20 while our silk is grade 1. Their color is 100% chemical. Their silk is impure. Labor wage is only 1$ per day. A Persian rug which costs 2500$, they sell only 500 to 600 $. A good Persian carpet is a brand, but unfortunately it is ignored in current years. In 1372, Persian carpet preceded oil export. That was a great event. Unfortunately, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have used our designs, so we have been overtaken by them.

Is your rug one of the Isfahan brands?

Yes. We were involved in coping, so we closed our internet site. We had brochures which our works had been introduced in them, but we crossed them off of our work cycle. We don’t put a complete and clear image of a rug, and deform that to be impossible for being copied.  They also claim we have copied their designs, while our works have been recorded in National Library and Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. We can pursue them, but it needs nerves of steel and extra money to pay for a lawyer. Really we can get compensation, but we haven’t done yet.  The nature of art is to be seen. If we close the world's door to ourselves, it's like a poem that somebody has written and put in his pocket, so nobody will hear it. Always there are some people who nobbleǃ

If the copied version of one work is put beside it, can we diagnose their differences?

One hundred percent ǃ In our Instagram page, we have put some samples of these copies. If you read the Idea, there are a lot of discussions about them. In the carpet world, colors are the most important. You first see the color and match it to your space. Then you proceed to design and size.

How can we differentiate original rug from fake one?

Generally, carpet has some features which is better for you to be aware of them; one of them is color. Identifying natural color is very difficult. In tribal rug, there is a line in color called brindle. This is not a fault in tribal rug, but it’s a virtue. If you see a line in the color of the city rug, it’s a fault. For example beige color is extracted of walnut shell. Gold color is of a plant called mignonette (reseda), which grows in Khorasan. If a color is very bold, it is 100% chemical. Some colors are ink, like a kind of blue color that equals natural colors. We don’t have silver color in nature. In tribal carpet, we can earn silver from nature, but it is full of brindles; on the contrary we caot gain natural silver in city carpet. Isfahan rug shouldn’t have brindles.

Another clue to identify a good rug, is the shape of its binding. The thread twisted roundly at the two sides (begiing and end) of this carpet is called original binding. At least, 90% of the weavers of commercial rug don’t do in this way. They do plain weave at each side for about 4 centimeters. When the rug finishes, they mark two edges of each side at 2 or 3 centimeters and join them by a thread, then they cut the sides of the rug by scissors. It gives a smooth edge to the rug; then, they twist a thick thread called braid around that tread; they do this by needle and thread, but if you put your nail under the braid, it will be unthreaded. This decreases the price of the rug by 80%. After a while laying this rug on the floor, two sides of the rug will be rounded and deformed. This is a very important point. How can you diagnose that? Pull the braid on the edge of each side. You don’t see unthreaded part, and another point is that the original artistic carpet doesn’t have a smooth edge on two sides.

Another point for an original and grade one rug is that it doesn’t have any line on its back, but commercial rug has some lines.

Thank you very much for your good explanations. We wish you the best of luck and much success in all your business endeavors, and hope you can regain your market.

Yes. One day an artistic rug will have a good market and strengthen during 7 to 8 coming years, and commercial rug must be omitted from work cycle. Machine made carpet manufacturers produce 250 of 12 square meter carpets every day. That means 10 carpets per hour. This is a large amount of production. There are 5000 carpet factories in Kashan which are not comparable with hand woven carpets in their number. It's better for you to buy inexpensive handmade rug instead of buying a machine made carpet. Whenever you want to sell a handmade rug it has its own price or may be a higher price. It's totally natural. Machine made carpet has 17 to 18 colors. Perhaps in the future years, it will gain 30 colors, but natural carpet has 65 colors. Surely, artistic rugs have their own clients and will have more ones in the future.

You can follow our page in Instagram. Our username is esfahan_mahdiecarpet. You can see our works and be aware of special events and exhibitions. Thanks alot.

Collector and Translator:Zahra Tavassoli

                                         1396/11/8