ARAK

ARAK is a centre for agricultural trade, the city is also known for its rugs, pottery, metalwork, and carpets. It was founded c.1800,and was formerly known as Sultanabad . Now it is the capital city of the province of Markad, which is located in central Iran. ARAK carpets are beautiful unique pieces that would enhance any room with their lively colours and the warm motifs in their patterns. Since the Persian civilization began weaving rugs about 3500 years ago. Therefore, each single item in the pattern of the rugs has a history and has been woven in carpets for thousands of years.

In 1883, ZEIGLER and Co., of Manchester, England, established a Persian carpet manufacture in ARAK, employing designers from major Western department stores, like B. Altman and Liberty of London, to modify fanciful 16th- and 17th-century Eastern designs for the more restrained Western taste. Using highly developed dying techniques and the best artisans from the region, ZEIGLER created rugs with bold, all over patterns and with softer palettes than their vibrant Persian counterparts. ZEIGLER rugs developed an almost immediate following, especially among newly Western industrialists; early collectors included the Guinness family, the owners of the stout-beer manufacture, who laid them in Elveden Hall, their Suffolk, England, estate.

The carpets from ARAK exist in many western houses; they are suitable for a wide variety of decoration styles and are among the most gorgeous types of carpet. The majority are made in mid size (4x6 to 8x10 feet) but larger rugs up to large size (10 x 18 feet) exist. Their colours are mostly: dark red, blue, soft green and Ivory. Although not uncommon in older or antique pieces, silk pile or silk foundation is if ever seen here. Warps are mostly cotton, wefts either cotton or wool or Cotton or goat hair is used for the foundation (more so cotton) and the wool of the rugs is hand spun usually from the weaver's own sheep. The rugs are woven using asymmetrical Persian knots to tie each loop one by one. Weavers in ARAK are using Persian knots, and you should check the back of the carpet. The numbers of Knots varies and depend of the quality of carpet but the average is around 120 KPSI (30 RAJ).

390 x 292 cm