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A Rich History of Sarough Rugs

Post author By itwman
Post date July 18, 2020
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Sarough rugs, sometimes called Saruk or Sarouk rugs, are oriental rugs based on the exquisite, hand woven floor coverings that were first created in the 19th century by artisans living in Sarough, Farahan, Ghiassabad and other villages lying near the Iranian city of Arak in the central province of Markazi.

Where Do Sarough Rugs Come From?

The village of Sarough is located approximately 20 miles outside of Arak in the central Iranian province of Markazi, a city well-known for its carpet-making. These days, Sarough rugs do not necessarily come from Sarough, though. The term “Sarough” is reserved for all high-end Persian carpets from this region, carpets that are still woven by hand. The term “Arak carpet” is more commonly used for the machine-woven rugs that come from this area.

What Is the History of the Markazi Province?

Markazi is a region in Iran with a long history of human settlement. In the first century B.C., the province was the center of the great empire of the Medes, one of the four great powers of the ancient Near East.

The history of carpet-weaving in this region, however, only dates back to the 19th century when the demand for carpets for American markets spurred the creation of characteristic rugs that used the high quality wools and natural dyes found in the area. The delicate nature of the dyes were not quite bright enough for the American market, so often parts of the rugs were re-dyed a bright raspberry or blue color after they were imported into the United States. This is the origin of the Sarough rug’s distinctive color palette.

How Did Sarough Rugs Originate?

In the late 19th and early 20th century, the village of Sarough became renowned for exquisite, hand-woven carpets with floral designs that were primarily sold in the American market. Sarough rugs manufactured before the First World War showed a strong Turkish influence and tended to sport a classic central medallion design while rugs manufactured after the War made use of floral patterns on a raspberry backdrop.
One distinct subset of Sarough rugs is called Feraghan or Farahan Saroughs. These are room-sized carpets with an extremely fine weave comprised of asymmetrical wool knots on a cotton background. Farahan Saroughs typically showcase traditional medallion patterns surrounded by a floral border in a soft apple green or pistachio color.

Distinguished Designers from Arak

Some Arak rug designers became very well known within Iran for the carpets produced from their designs. Among these designers were:

• Isa Bahadori: Born in 1908 in Arak, Isa Bahadori gained international prominence when one of the rugs he designed won a coveted gold medal at the Brussels Exhibition.
• Asadollah Daqiqi 1905 – 1962: Asadollah Daqiqi learned the art of carpet design at the Mirza Abdollah Raisabadi School in Arak, and went on to establish one of Arak’s leading rug design centers.
• Zabihollah Abtahi: In the early part of the 20th century, Arak’s most famous rug designer was Zabihollah Abtahi who got his start in the rug industry in 1907 at the age of ten. Zabihollah Abtahi is best known for his exquisite Arabesque and Palmette Flower designs.

Asadollah Abtahi
Abdolkarim Rafiei
Asadollah Ghaffari
Jafar Chagani
Seyed Hajagha Eshghi (Golbaz)
Hosein and Hasan Tehrani
Zabihollah Abtahi

Are Sarough Rugs Still Being Made in the Traditional Way in the Region?

Carpet weavers in Arak continue to hand produce beautiful Sarough rugs today. Sarough rugs continue to be created by artisans who adhere closely to traditional hand-looming methods. Modern consumers have more sophisticated tastes when it comes to subtle colors, so Sarough rugs are no longer re-dyed after they are woven to intensify their hues.

Sarough carpets are woven from high quality wools using the traditional Persian knot, which means they will stand up to decades of use. Elegant, beautiful and durable, Sarough carpets are among the most popular carpets coming out of Iran today.

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Iranian carpets weave their magic spell

Post author By itwman
Post date February 19, 2019
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Age Like any art collector’s piece, the older it is, the more valuable it becomes. There is a distinction between antique and “new” – those made after the 1930s. A carpet made at a workshop of a well known master weaver will obviously be more expensive than one made in a regular workshop. Some of the names sought by the international auctioneers Christie’s and Sotheby’s are Kashan Mohtasham, Tabriz Haji Jalili, and Laver Kerman.

Colour A good carpet will have a diverse colour palette, with a strong contrast between the colours – no one wants a dull carpet. Buyers should ask the dealer whether it is made from natural dyes – from fruits, vegetables or mashed insects – or modern manmade chemical dyes.
Material The price of a carpet will also be determined by the type of material used, usually silk, imported or domestic, or wool, imported or domestic. Carpets made of Manchester wool, produced in the northern English city of the same name, have appreciated extremely well, says Ali Al Bayaty, the chief executive of Estuary Auctions in Abu Dhabi. Rug commissioners in Iran stopped using Manchester wool, bringing an end to carpets made of expensive imported wool, after the Great Depression when British and German companies defaulted on their commitments to Iran.
Weave The fineness of the rug is determined by the number of knots per square metre. A coarse rug could have 36,000 to 50,000 knots per square metre, whereas fine or rare rugs could have more than 1 million knots per square metre.

The effort to produce a work of such staggering beauty was so immense that his family hosted parties for weeks and exchanged elaborate gifts to celebrate its completion.
The Paradise Garden, a 160 square metre Persian rug that can only fit in a palace, features more than 90 shades of colour and is decorated with the Shah Abbasi Flowers pattern , which originated in the 15th century. But it is more than just a rug.

The carpet, made in the weaving centre of Tabriz city in north-west Iran, has been a backdrop to the struggles of Mr Hossein-Zadeh’s Iranian rug trading business, which he has operated in Abu Dhabi since the early 1970s. Whatever was happening in the region, in the business, even in the world, the dream carpet was always there.
There was the opening of his branch in Abu Dhabi, the Iranian Revolution, cash disputes with the weavers and a two-year hiatus when the project was completely halted, not to mention rounds of international trade sanctions with Iran and other geopolitical tensions.
At every stage of manufacture, it is almost as if the dream carpet represented Mr Hossein-Zadeh’s prosperity and that of his business.
And for the millions of knots tied to weave the beautiful and intricate rug there is a similar number of business deals struck between traders of the UAE and its Iranian neighbour.

For many years Dubai has been a re-export hub for Tehran for goods including fruit and nuts, cars and carpets. Trade between the UAE and Iran between 2005 to 2009 tripled to US$12 billion (Dh44.07bn), according to figures from the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Re-exports to Tehran jumped 29 per cent to $31bn last year, according to Reuters.
Even as sanctions tighten over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, trade remains and so, too, does Mr Hossein-Zadeh’s dream carpet, which today is kept under lock and key until the right buyer is found.
“There were times when my father wondered why he even began that project, but by then he had invested so much money that he just had to complete it,” says Dawood, Mr Hossein-Zadeh’s son, who was a child when the carpet was envisioned and an adult, married with children, by the time it was completed.

Dawood, who has taken over the century-old family business and runs the Centre of Original Iranian Carpets in Abu Dhabi, says the rug, kept in the family private collection, is for sale at Dh4.4 million.
On one of Dawood’s walls hangs a collection of old framed photographs of Sheikh Zayed and several notable UAE Royals, along with portraits of Queen Rania of Jordan, and King Mohammed of Morocco standing behind piles of carpets laid out in the company shop.
“In this kind of business, very one-of-a-kind, rare pieces of the finest Persian rugs, you are dealing mostly with royalty wherever you are. Who can afford to buy them? Only the rich, ultra-rich and VIPs,” says Dawood.
Persian rugs, once the passion of Ottoman Caliphs and European monarchs, have long been coveted by Middle East families, not just as decorative floor coverings but as assets to be sold in times of economic hardship.
The price of a Persian rug has increased by 40 per cent in the past 12 months as Iranians inside Iran pour their money in carpets as a haven to hedge against the rapid devaluation of the local currency and subsequent rise in inflation.
“Merchants are trying to concentrate on fine, rare antique carpets by 19th century masters to buy to re-import them to Iran,” says Ali Al Bayaty, the chief executive of Estuary Auctions based in Abu Dhabi.
“Most of the rare pieces are in Europe and [Middle East and North Africa] region, while bazaars in Tehran are only selling ‘new’ pieces, by new we are talking about 1930s.”
“These carpets are currently in high demand. A lot of these pieces have wear and tear and need to be washed and maintained, and the best workshops are still in Tehran,” Mr Al Bayaty adds.
It’s the opposite of the days of the 1979 revolution, Dawood says.

“When the Pahlavi was toppled, Iranians who wanted to leave rushed to buy carpets because they were not able to transfer currency abroad. When they left the country, they sold them in Beirut, Damascus, Dubai and other Gulf states to get money, and the whole international market became flooded with carpets making the prices fall. Those were difficult times.”
And today he is facing a different set of challenges as sanctions hit Iran’s economy.

“Antique rugs from Iran are becoming more expensive and as the economic situation gets worse, you have to pay more to encourage these workers to stay in the field,” says Mr Hossein-Zadeh.

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The Persian Rug May Not Be Long for This World

Post author By itwman
Post date May 27, 2016
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For centuries, Iran’s famed carpets have been produced by hand along the nomad trail in this region of high plains around the ancient city of Shiraz.

Sheep grazed in high mountain pastures and shorn only once a year produce a thick, long wool ideal for the tough thread used in carpet making.

But high-quality production of hand-woven carpets is no longer sustainable on the migration route of the nomads, said Hamid Zollanvari, one of Iran’s biggest carpet makers and dealers.

Instead, he had built a factory with 16 huge cooking pots, where on a recent cool, sunny spring day men in blue overalls stirred the pots with long wooden sticks, boiling and coloring the thread. As the colored waters bubbled, they looked like live volcanos. The air smelled of sheep.

The century-old bazaar in Shiraz, an ancient Iranian city known for its production of hand-woven carpets.

Another room was stacked with herbs. Eucalyptus leaves, indigo, black curd, turmeric, acorn shells and alum, ingredients for the different colors. “The Iranian carpet is 100 percent organic,” Mr. Zollanvari declared. “No machinery is involved.”

It is a scene that seems as ageless as the women who sit before the looms and weave the rugs, a process that can take as long as a year. And now even the factory is threatened. With six years of Western sanctions on the carpet business and punishing competition from rugs machine-made in China and India, these are hard times for the craft of Persian rug making. Many veterans wonder whether it can survive.

Over the centuries invaders, politicians and Iran’s enemies have left their mark on Iran’s carpets, said Prof. Hashem Sedghamiz, a local authority on carpets, sitting in the green courtyard of his restored Qajar-dynasty house in Shiraz. The outsiders demanded changes, started using chemicals for coloring and, most recently, imposed sanctions on the rugs. Those were blows, he said, damaging but not destructive.

But now, Mr. Sedghamiz said, the end is near. Ultimately he said, it is modernity — that all-devouring force that is changing societies at breakneck speed — that is killing the Persian carpet, Iran’s pride and joy. “People simply are no longer interested in quality.”

This year, after the nuclear deal was completed, the United States lifted six years of sanctions on carpets. But even with that, the Persian carpet is in a critical state as fewer and fewer people buy them.

“These days, everyone is seeking quick satisfaction and simplicity, but our carpets are the complete opposite of that,” Mr. Sedghamiz said.

His message was not what officials of the Iran National Carpet Center had in mind when they organized a tour for a group of foreign journalists last weekend. Still, none of them could really argue with Mr. Sedghamiz’s conclusion.

One thing is for sure: Iran’s carpets are among the most complex and labor-intensive handicrafts in the world.

It is on the endless green slopes of Fars Province, in Iran’s heartland, that the “mother of all carpets,” among the first in the world, is produced: the hand-woven nomadic Persian rug.

The process starts with around 1.6 million sheep grazed by shepherds from the nomadic Qashqai and Bakhtiari tribes, who produce that tough, long-fibered wool so perfect for carpets.

Women take over from there, making thread from the wool by hand, twisting it with their fingers. The finished thread is bundled and then dyed, using natural ingredients like pomegranate peels for deep red or wine leaves for green. After days of boiling on a wooden fire, the threads are dried by the cool winds that blow in from the north each afternoon.

Only then does the weaving start. Weavers, almost all of them women, spend several months to a year bent over a horizontally placed loom, stringing and knotting thousands of threads. Some follow established patterns, some create their own. When the carpet is finally done, it is cut, washed and put out in the sun to dry.

“It’s so time consuming, real hand work,” said Mr. Zollanvari, the carpet dealer. “A labor of love. And what does it cost?” he asked, before answering the question himself: “Almost nothing.” A 6-by-9-foot handwoven carpet costs around $400 in Shiraz, depending on the pattern and quality.

Mr. Zollanvari, who speaks fluent English, stood alongside two other carpet dealers, Habib Bayat and Mohammed Ali Dideroushan, both of whom are United States green card holders and self-declared carpet lovers.

The sanctions were really painful, Mr. Dideroushan said, and to him, at least, inexplicable. “Let’s face it, what do carpets have to do with our nuclear program?”

The worrisome part, Mr. Bayat said, is that business still has not picked up even after sanctions were lifted early this year. With international financial transactions still a problem, he said, “even the tourists that come to Iran cannot pay us, unless they bring plenty of cash.”

Not only that, but Persian carpets have fallen out of favor even in Iran, with many middle-class Iranians preferring cheap plastic laminate floor covers. Those who still like carpets often go for cheaper Chinese and Indian knockoffs.

“We are selling around 10 percent of what we used to sell over a decade ago,” said Morteza Talebi, the head of the council of the Shiraz bazaar. The century-old bazaar was filled with carpet shops, but there were no buyers.

Even the original producers of carpets, the nomads, are becoming harder to find. Mr. Zollanvari took the reporters to a nomadic camp outside Shiraz. There, men cheerfully blew trumpets and shot rifles into the air to celebrate the visitors. Women in colorful traditional clothes were spinning wool, others weaving a carpet.

But it turned out that several of the “nomads” were recovering drug addicts from other parts of the country who were entertaining tourists as part of an attempt to stay clean.

“Many nomads are in search of jobs and better salaries,” said Mina Bahram Abadian, a member of an Iranian group that helps nomads and drug addicts. Their situation is not that different from the problems many indigenous people have worldwide, she said.

“Divorce rates are up, as is drug use,” she said. “They cannot cope with all the changes. They get depressed and stop making carpets.”

Resource : NYTimes

Tags Ali Dideroushan, Habib Bayat, Hamid Zollanvari, Hashem Sedghamiz

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What is Jute Rugs?

When you choose a jute rug, you have an attractive floor covering and you also have the benefit of flooring that will last. Biodegradable jute carpet is an excellent choice for the contemporary shopper who’s environmentally aware.

What Is Jute?

Jute is the most cultivated plant fiber in the world after cotton however because nearly 85 percent of jute cultivation is concentrated in India’s Ganges delta region, this natural fiber is not very well known to Westerners by name. Westerners are very familiar with products made from jute fiber however, particularly burlap, sack cloth, twine and rope.

What Is a Jute Rug?

Traditionally, the world’s most gifted Oriental carpet makers used jute backing for their masterpieces of interwoven wool, cotton and silk yarns. More recently, jute has come into its own as a primary material for rugs, carpet and other floor coverings.

Jute fiber can be spun into a strong and durable thread. Jute fibers tend to have a rough texture, but when jute cords are separated out into finer threads, those threads feel like silk. Finer jute threads are what are used to create jute carpet and jute rugs.

In its natural state, jute fiber has an attractive golden sheen that has led to jute’s nickname as the Golden Fiber. Jute also takes dye very well, and is often blended with other natural and synthetic fibers to create textured patterns in carpet.

Jute carpet is typically produced using broadloom methods or by braiding. Jute will adhere to your floor quite well so it doesn’t need a latex backing and often a cotton or a wool border will be added to a jute area rug for aesthetic reasons.

Like floor coverings made from other natural plant fibers, a natural jute rug is a good option in environments that do not have or retain a lot of moisture. If jute becomes wet repeatedly, the fibers can lose their strength and begin to break and they may also become a medium for mildew and bacteria. Jute can also become brittle and yellow if it’s exposed to direct sunlight for prolonged periods of time.

What Are the Benefits of Buying a Jute Rug?

Jute area rugs are beautifully textured pieces that are perfect for accenting specific areas of the rooms they’re in. Jute is probably the least expensive natural material available on the market today, so jute floor coverings tend to be relatively inexpensive. Jute fibers are among the strongest of all organic fibers, so a jute rug will last for a long time and stand up to hard use. Jute floor covering also requires very little maintenance; routine vacuuming will remove most dirt and dust. Jute is also a poor conductor of electricity, so static electricity won’t build up in a jute rug. Unlike seagrass and sisal, jute is not a particularly slick material so a jute runner on your staircase is a great option.

Best of all, jute is an ecologically friendly fiber. It doesn’t require pesticides or chemical fertilizers to grow, and it’s completely biodegradable.

Jute floor coverings are attractive, long lasting and represent some of the very best values consumers will find in natural floor coverings today.