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Many people in Iran have invested their whole wealth in Persian carpets - often referred to as an Iranian's stocks and shares - and there are underground storage areas in Tehran's bazaar that are full of fine specimens, kept as investments by shrewd businessmen. And for many centuries, of course, the Persian carpet has received international acknowledgment for its artistic splendor. In palaces, famous building, rich homes and museums throughout the world a Persian carpet is amongst the most treasured possessions. Thus, today Iran produces more carpets than all the other carpet making centers of the world put together.

The element of luxury with which the Persian carpet is associated today provides a marked contrast with its humble beginning among the nomadic tribes that at one time wandered the great expanse of Persia in search of their livelihood. Then it was an article of necessity to protect the tribes from the bitterly cold winters of the country. But out of necessity was born art. Through their bright colors and magical designs, the floor and entrance coverings that protected the tribesmen from the ravages of the weather also brought gay relief to their dour and hardy lives. In those early days the size of the carpet was often small, dependent upon the size of the tents of room in which the people lived.

Besides being an article of furniture, the carpet was also a form of writing for the illiterate tribesmen, setting down their fortunes and setbacks, their aspirations and joys. It also came to be used as a prayer mat by thousands of Muslim believers.

Thus began a process of people handing down their skills to their children, who built on those skills and in turn, handed down the closely guarded family secrets to their offspring.

To make a carpet in those days required tremendous perseverance. Even when carpet making developed to the stage of workshops, with several employees working on the same carpet, it was a question of months and often years of painstaking work. The leader would dictate through a series of chants to the other workers the color of the individual strands of wool to be knotted. When the time came for the tribe to move on, the loom had to be dismantled and the unfinished carpet folded as best they could. The following season it had to be put again at some new oasis.

Although cotton came to be used for the warp and weft of the carpet, the herds of sheep that surrounded the tribes provided the basic material, wool. The cold mountain climate provided an added advantage in that the wool was finer and had longer fibers than wool from sheep in warmer climates.











Sitting on a 2'x3' base, the rack is 5' tall and displays up to 40 rugs at one time.



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