WikiRug:Featured Article/2020/2

Heriz, a town in the East Azerbaijan Province of northwestern Iran, was a famous weaving village during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Heriz rugs and carpets are known in the market from the early nineteenth century. The weavers of Heriz are credited with being the first in Persia to produce room-size and oversize carpets with rustic, nomadic designs. Heriz carpets are well known in the world market and coordinate with the interiors of many European and American homes. They are also in demand for the domestic market, especially in the Azerbaijan Province. Heriz carpets are known to be durable floor coverings. Many villages surrounding Heriz adopted the popular designs of Heriz in the last quarter of the nineteenth century in response to world market demand. Generally, the weavings of these villages are grouped as Heriz carpets abroad, but each village is known individually by name in the Iranian market. The popular villages include Ahar, Bilverdi, Goravan, Karadja, Mehraban, Sharbian, and Sinsari. The famous weaving village of Bakhshaish also switched to Heriz designs for better marketing purposes by the turn of the twentieth century. Although the designs were similar to Heriz, all of these villages possessed easily identifiable characteristics with their chosen motifs, color, and qualities. (Full article...)