Kashan Rug/Original Persian Rugs

Kashan is located at 258 km, South of Tehran. In the Islamic sources it is referred to as Ghashan or Gasan. This city is among the very ancient cities and from the archeological evidence found in Sialk hills, 4 km, west of Kashan, this region has been discovered to hold one of the first civilizations and is known to be the place for the early settlers in the pre-historic era.
The city of Kashan existed during the Sasanids and during the Islamic era it has been one of the well-known cities of "Persian Iraq".
As Jahan Gosha-ye Jovieni, a historian, puts it, “the Mongols have massacred the population of Kashan in 621 lunar calendar”. Kashan has always been an important center for Shiite.
That is why, during the safavid era this city saw so much progress due to the rulers attention towards Shiism.
The weavers of Kashan must be considered as the heirs of the braided textiles and clothes and all types of velvet, brocades and all types of woven materials which were called "Hurmozi" and thus, gave Iranian textiles its well-known reputation. The French traveler, "Chardain", writes in his notes: "In no other city of Iran one can find this much silk fabrics, wave covered and flower designed velvet, and silk fabrics mixed with gold and silver thread than this city and its suburbs."
Through weaving carpets which are known as the pride of museums, Kashan has played an important role in the reviving the craft of carpet weaving in Iran. Decline in the agricultural activities are a result of continuous droughts gave rise to carpet weaving in Kashan.
Weaving in Kashan mainly takes place in Kashan city and its suburbs like Natanz and Josheghan.
The city of Kashan plays a significant role in connecting other centers to one another.
The historical background of Kashan carpet weaving craft dates back to ancient time. The carpets of the late thirteen century solar calendar were very popular due to their delicate weaving and the soft wool which was form the Merino wool imported by workshop owners for their special orders.

Raw material, dyeing and weaving

The knots used in Kashan and its Villages is symmetrical and its warp is known as Farsi.
The loom is fixed vertically and usually made of wood. The row counts of the carpets range from 35 to 60 and are even in numbers. 70 knots per 6.5 cm is usually woven for very precious types.
The row counts of 30 to 40 knote are very common. The knots are bound together during the carpet weaving.
The materials used for the den is wool and silk for very delicate carpets.
Kashan carpets can vary in size from 1.5 m and may extend to 3X4 and 4X3 and in some rare cases to as large as 15 square meters and even more.
Among the important centers for Kashan carpet weaving are Bidgol, Aran, Ghamsar and Gholestaneh towns.

Design, Pattern and Color

We can state that for a long time, all corner, Palmette, medallion designs and patterns and the beautiful bushes and flowers in the red background were known to be the original design of the Kashan carpets. Today, other designs are included such as vase design, Corner design, Medallion, Eslimi (Arabesque), hunting, Sheikh Safi, and Gol Farang are among the important designs used in Kashan carpets. The different patterns of Palmette flower design in different styles are known to be the main decorating elements of Kashan carpets. The dark and red colors such as blue, green, yellow, black, cream, pink, light blue and dark blue are among the major colors used in Kashan carpets. It can be said that most of the recent woven carpets in Kashan have a cream or red background and the cream is used more than the red. Haj molla Mohsen Mohtasham, Seiyed Mohammad Mir Alavi and Mohammad Ali Farshchi, the Ataie brothers, Mohammad Dabir-ol-sanaye, Molla Mahmood, Mohammad Tavakoli, Haj Hasan Farshchi, Haj Mohammad Jaafar Isfahanian, Hossein Kashi, Hossein Etminan & Reza Sadaghiani are among the famous producers of Kashan carpets. Seiyed Reza Sanaie, Mirza Nasrollah Naghashzade, Mohammad Afsari, Nezam Afsari and Mohammad Sanaie are among the old Kashan painters who have created the Kashan design with the help of several masters like: Hossein Taghdisi, Abbas Mohtasham zadeh and Amir Karimpoor.