A special carpet exhibition aimed to introduce Iranian culture and handicraft is being held at Ankara’s Panora Mall, Turkey.
The 10-day exhibition displays 24 hand woven rugs and pictorial carpets, the designs of which inspired by nature, Koranic verses and Iranian nomad’s culture and life style.
There is also an Iranian artist present at the center who weaves a carpet live and explains different process and aspects of making rugs.
On the sideline of this exhibition, a group of musicians perform traditional Iranian music for visitors.
Iranian hand-woven carpets are exported to 80 different countries, with US being one of the leading markets by a total share of 30 percent. The value of this export was around $424 million in the past Iranian fiscal year, corresponding to March 2017 – March 2018. This is while following US President Donald Trump decision to withdraw from Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the US Treasury Department announced it had revoked licenses to trade in Iranian carpets.
Some 2.5 million Iranians are making a living from producing and trading carpets and the country’s carpet industry plays the biggest role in employment in rural areas, said the head of Iran National Carpet Center (INCC) Fereshteh Dastpak on July 16, adding, “Countries such as China, Nepal, India and Pakistan have made a lot of efforts and investments in hand-made carpets, but Iran is still out of their reach in producing and exporting this product.”