Tabriz Rug

Tabriz is one of the most important centers of carpet and rug weaving in Iran and its weaving rugs have a great variety. Tabriz is currently selected by the World Handicrafts Council as the “World City of Carpet Weaving”. Stay with Persiana Travel and Tourism Agency and read this informative article about the most renowned handicrafts of Iran.

Tabriz is a world city of rug weaving

The World Council of Handicrafts has introduced the city of Tabriz as the “World City of Carpet Weaving”. The art of carpet weaving in this city dates back to the Safavid era. This city is one of the most important centers of rug weaving in the world. Tabriz rug in the world’s prestigious museums or in the collections of avid collectors is proof of this claim. In addition, it causes the prosperity of Iran’s commercial market. Statistics show that in 1985, 32150 weavers weaved 16,000 rugs.

In recent years, skilled and talented weavers of this city have produced very delicate silk flower rugs with 50 and 60 rows on a large scale. The texture of these carpets is sometimes silk threads with elastic and bergamot designs and often has light beige and pea colors. The drawings and coloring of Tabriz Rugs are abundantly magenta, jujube and olive colors.

This handicraft is often woven with potted, tree, altar, chandelier, animal, hunting, Herati, foliage, floral, brick or frame designs, landscape weaving, Quranic frames and geometric patterns in various dimensions. Some of the well-known designs of it are: Mostofi design, Eslami with bergamot, Eslami with elastic, bergamot, fish or Herati pattern, vase, Minakhani, tree design, image design, garden or Golestani design, hunting ground design. In recent decades, with creativity in patterns, colors and textures, innovations have been made in Tabriz Rugs. It has led to the creation of novel and exquisite works of Iranian carpetss. By using depth and dimension (perspective), a special identifier is assigned to the carpet.

By using color to fill in the blanks instead of patterns, and by using colors with a special harmony, a beautiful affinity is created between design and color. Such a technique observed in new subterranean designs in this carpet. Unlimited use of homogeneous colors and creating light shades induces depth, and also using cold and warm colors and producing light shades in flowers and text, makes the role stand out in this handicraft. This method makes the flowers look more natural and realistic.

Features of Tabriz Rug in terms of design and color

In Azerbaijan province and city of Tabriz, rug weaving is so common from the most delicate to the harshest types. The weaving method in this city is in a way that the weaving worker uses a hook on very stretched strands to knot the carpet. Moreover, workers constantly pound these knots with small and light combs so the compaction and cohesion on the carpet’s yarn and fabric is given in this method. This considers as a feature of Tabriz Rugs.

Azerbaijani weaver is very skilled and hardworking. Depending on the design of carpet and the delicacy of the work, the weaver may tie up to eight thousand knots every day. Even some master weavers knot fifteen thousand knots a day! One reason for this agility and dexterity is the use of special knives and hooks.

The weavers, especially in the contemporary period, creat a new design with a combination of different colors. Today’s weavers of “Tabriz”, “Marand” and “Khoy” mostly use flexible designs of bergamot, tree, pot and shrub. Buyers of carpets, more than anything, are looking for the freshness of colors in the Tabriz carpet. The weavers are also so economical and careful in using materials. For the very short knots he usually separates the pieces of yarn he wants to knit from the coil.

In the past, especially during the nineteenth century, this city was one of the major centers of weaving silk rugs. But today the weaving of these carpets is mostly done by customer order. Generally, the features of Tabriz Rug are as below:

• Its design is done by the most experienced professors in compliance with all standards.
• It is generally in high and fine textures.
• It has a great variety of colors.
• Its piles are usually short and they are polished by skilled people.
• The fibers that are used in it are of high quality.
• Using light shades which create depth in it.
• Another feature of it is filling the empty parts of the carpet instead of using other roles.

What is the design of Tabriz Rug?

In recent years, the master weavers of Tabriz have more tendency to produce very delicate silk flower carpets in a large scale. Moreover, they want to create many innovations, along with increasing the quality, in terms of design. These carpets, some of which are made by silk wefts, are mostly woven with elastic and bergamot designs as well as light beige and pea colors.

The eye-catching colors of magenta, jujube, olive and syringe use in Tabriz Rug design. During the last seventy years, the pattern of this carpet has been mostly mixed with potted, tree, altar, chandelier, hunting ground, Herati, foliage, brick, landscape weaving, Quranic frame and geometric patterns. In the classification made by Iran Carpet Joint Stock Company in terms of design and patterns of carpets, Iranian carpet designs are classified in 19 sections.

The city of Tabriz uses the most of patterns in this classification, due to the variety of designers:
pattern of antiquities and Islamic buildings, Shah Abbasi pattern, Islamic pattern, Afshan pattern, brick pattern, tree design, hunting ground design, frame map, flower pattern, vase design and dirham fish design (Herati), especially turtle, as well as altar design and the role of taboos and geometric and plant design are the most famous carpet design of this city. Common colors that made in the dyeing workshops of Azerbaijan, especially East Azerbaijan, are mostly red, blue, green, yellow, burnt orange, beige, pink or any other marketable color.

Special equipment for weaving Tabriz Rug

Loom

Vertical loom is called Tabrizi because it was apparently invented in this city. Other types are not used because this device is simple and easy to use and at the same time cheap. This type of rug is also used in most carpet weaving centers which are located in the northwestern and central cities of Iran. This loom is superior to a rural loom in several ways.

The tedious work of twisting the knots and tying them to the upper beam and sewing the woven part of the rug to the lower beam removed in this method. When pulling the carpet down, you can quickly loosen the stitches by pulling the quadrilateral out of the gaps. In this way, the carpet is lowered and the woven part is placed on the hanger so that it can be easily inspected.

Hook

In this city, a special knife is used, which is significantly different from other knives. This knife is a combination of a sharp, hook-like blade similar to a button hook embedded in the end of the blade. The hook is used to tie the knot instead of knotting by hand. The blade is used to cut the thread after tying the knot in Tabriz Rug. A kind of counterfeit carpet weaving has become widespread throughout Iran. So, it damaged the reputation of the Iranian carpet weaver. This harmful method of weaving carpet is that instead of taking two strands of thread and tying a knot to it, the knot is tied to four strands. So that the woven carpet has only half of the knots that it should has.

Tabriz Rug Dyeing

Tabriz is the first carpet and rug weaving center in Iran where the dyes of the western countries have completely penetrated. So, the new dyes have replaced the old dyes. In examining the ups and downs of the carpet weaving industry, this city has always been an important center of carpet production. Subsequently it has a long history in the dyeing industry and has progressed and evolved in the field of dyeing technology and technique over time.

At the peak time of the art and industry of carpet weaving in this city, that is, during the Safavid dynasty, important carpet weaving centers and plant dyeing workshops established and expanded. With the expansion of relations between Iran and other countries, including the Europeans, the dyeing industry also underwent increasing developments.

The ease, speed and cheapness of dyeing with European colors in comparison with the usual method in Iran, fascinated the people of Tabriz. Cream and aniline dyes, a combination of paints from foreign factories are both used in dyeing the carpets. These are stabilized with potassium bicarbonate.

Tabriz Rug design is full of patterns, colors and beauty for this reason, Tabriz is one of the most important weaving Rug and Carpet centers in Iran in terms of hand-woven carpets. In this article, Persiana Travel and Tourism Agency tried to help you to get familiar with this precious handicraft, its features and design of it.