Text: Elena Aleshkina TO VISIT THE ARAB EMIRATES AND DO NOT ATTEND THE CARPET - EVERYTHING IS THE SAME THAT YOU DO NOT TAKE PLACE IN THE PERSIAN BAY! A GOOD CARPET WILL SERVE NOT ONE GENERATION OF YOUR FAMILY, AND BECAUSE THE CHOICE WILL TAKE TIME, INSUFFICIENCY AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE SUBJECT.
For our readers to become a guide to the beautiful world of carpets, we invited Sudesh Kahra, a representative of Pride Of Kashmir, a supplier of Kashmir and Persian carpets.
Sudesh, which carpets are more ancient and famous - Kashmir or Persian?
Persian "older", because they learned to weave more than two thousand years ago. The history of carpet weaving in India began from the time of the reign of Sufi of Persia Hazrat Ali Hamdani in the middle of the XIV century. The best masters of Persia, at his invitation, came to Kashmir to teach local families the art of carpet weaving.
Pride Of Kashmir is proud to have come from this region. It has been run by four generations of the Shah family for over a hundred years. Now the company is headed by Musadik Shah, under his leadership Pride Of Kashmir has become an international brand and now sells carpets around the world.
In Dubai, our stores are represented in such shopping centers as Deira City Center, Mercato, Mall of the Emirates, Madinat Jumeirah. You can buy here a variety of types of carpets.
How can an ordinary buyer understand such an abundance of species, colors and design of products?
A distinctive feature and the central element of the Persian carpet is a medallion of a round, oval or polygonal shape. It symbolizes the divine eye.
This design element is often associated with the inside of the dome of the mosque. Classical Persian design is also a field made up of small squares, in each of which you can see various details of the garden. It is noteworthy that not a single square is repeated, all the drawings are unique.
The geometric design, brightness, and sometimes even the contrast of colors to a greater extent indicates that you have a Persian, not a Kashmiri carpet.
The Persian Tabriz carpet (Tabriz is a northeastern Iranian province) is distinguished by a contrasting, juicy range, for example, dark red and dark blue colors can be present in the picture at the same time.
The ornament is characterized by the image of shamrocks and climbing plants with spiral-shaped antennae.
Kashan carpet (southeast of Iran) is purely floral and plant motifs, an abundance of arabesques.
The Isfahan carpet (south of Iran) can have bird silhouettes in its drawing. The carpet is often made in light colors - beige, blue. Gold and silver threads are sometimes used.
The Kashmir carpet, as a rule, is of light, beige, ocher shades, has fancy plant elements, and many tiny details. Sometimes it is woven using a typical Persian ornament, sometimes it has Indian themes, scenes depicting hunting scenes in wild forests where predators live, birds flutter, majestic elephants roam - all this against the backdrop of detailed painted colorful natural landscapes.
In these carpets, with their abundance of decorative elements, the influence of miniature art is easily discerned. The amazing property of Kashmiri silk carpets is to change shades depending on the angle of incidence of sunlight.
Natural mother-of-pearl shine and glow of silk give a variety of ebbs, due to which the epithet "magic" is used for silk carpet.
Persian rugs are often turned to modern design, they are more stylized, bright. And Kashmir’s follow traditions, classics - both in ornament and in color scheme.
Surely, buyers are divided into those who prefer Persian and Kashmir carpets ...
Of course, local residents and citizens of countries neighboring the Emirates prefer Persian rugs. The most beautiful and expensive samples are bought for prayer - prayer. Persian carpets are loved by Americans. Even the fact that they have problems in relations with Iran has not changed anything in this regard. But the European audience clearly prefers Kashmir carpets, perhaps because they are calm, natural shades, more familiar to the eyes of a European. And Russian-speaking buyers, mainly European taste.
If a representative of the former Soviet Union came to me, it is safe to say that in ninety-five cases out of a hundred, he will choose a Kashmiri carpet.
What determines the cost of a carpet?
Basically, from three indicators: the material from which it is made (pure silk carpet is the most expensive; the more interspersed wool, the cheaper), the complexity of design and age. The older the carpet, the more expensive it is. For example, we sell not only modern, but also the so-called antic carpets, the age of which is 100,150 years. Prices start at US $ 700 for woolen carpets, and from US $ 3,000 for pure silk. If the market offers you a "silk" carpet for next to nothing, do not believe it - there are no cheap handicrafts in nature. The material is very expensive, and production should pay for itself, because the master takes three months to six months to create one sample.
Tell us more about antic carpets.
They are mainly from India and Bukhara. We have not so many of them, but there are few buyers who are ready to purchase a unique carpet. They are either wealthy Arabs, or Americans who don't want to buy an antic the size of a basketball field. The cost of such samples starts at US $ 25 thousand. The most expensive antic that we have is worth US $ 500 thousand, it comes from Iran. The high cost of the sample is justified by the fact that it is not just a carpet, but a thing that history stands behind!
7 ways to distinguish a handmade rug
1. Bend the carpet from the front side in a line parallel to the fringe, spread the pile, look at the base of the villi. You must see the nodes. They are not? So this is a product of machine production.
2. If several absolutely identical carpets are on display in a store, then they are made by machine. Handicrafts are always different from each other, even if they have identical patterns.
3. The back of this carpet has the same pattern as the front. If the wrong side is plain or the pattern is badly distorted, this carpet is not yours!
4. Fringe - an integral part of the carpet, a natural continuation of the base and can not be sewn. If the carpet has fringe-free edges, they must be overcast by hand. Such processing is quite simple to distinguish from the machine line.
5. Viscose products can be distinguished from silk carpets in bright colors. Viscose is easily dyed in any color, and natural materials are less susceptible to color and therefore have a dimmer color.
6. Rub the carpet, and after “attach” it to your forehead. If the carpet has become much warmer, it is silk. It heats up due to friction, while the synthetics remain cold.
7. Machine-knitted carpets, for the most part, are rolled up, handmade products are folded in an envelope. Machine rooms would just break down.
