Iranian Journal of hand woven carpet

Manifestation of Ideal and Sacred Place among the Elements of Persian Carpet With an Emphasize on the Presence of Kang Dej in Motifs of Persian Carpet Using Symbolistic and Mythological Approach

Elham Shamsaei

An influencing idea finally develops and gain fame, if not in its own time, certainly in a short period of history. Likewise Suhrawardi's philosophy, within less than a century, has had such an influence in various areas of philosophy, literature, art, culture, etc. in Islamic world especially Iran. "The mediatory world" (Ālam-e Methāl) and "the eighth territory" (Eqlīm-e Hashtum) is the very point of intellectual strength in Suhawardi's philosophy which has made it influential. Suhrawardi's mediatory world (a subtle mediator between spiritual and material worlds) and its cities can be considered in associate with the mythical city of Kang Dej to help us in finding out how symbols, in the sacred art of carpet-weaving, are in a way related to this mediatory world. But, why rug? Simply because no other art like carpet weaving has kept its ancient motifs till now without losing its popularity. Although rug is used to cover a ground but it represents a celestial earth, and makes a place sacred, as it is subject of traditional science of sacred geography. The symbols which are in common between the mediatory world, structure of a traditional house and rug have the same spiritual concepts for traditional human. Toranjs (medallion) and Shamsas (roundel) as symbols of rugs are representation of sun and ultimately remind us of the metaphysical notion of center. Lachaks (ecoincon) are entrance gates, hashiyas (border) are fort of the spiritual city, and guls (flower) and buttas (arabesque) and all other symbols have their own role in representation of this subtle city. In this paper we will see how philosophical and mythological point of view can assist one to interpret rugs. Whatever man makes shows his approach to the reality and determines his intellectual power and social circumstances under which he has grown. Kang Dej is an Iranian vision of "the ideal city" and refers to the state of paradise in traditional ideas. Kang belongs to mediatory (or subtle) realm of existence; the tradition, representing it on earth and material realm, illuminates a sacred place in urban planning, architecture, and art. One of these illuminated forms is the art of carpet weaving along with its motifs and symbols.

Critical Study of Two Samples of Hamedan Carpets Using Symbolistic and Semiotic Approach

Azam Rasooli

One of aspects of the carpets which can be studied is their pattern and design, and such a study can be performed based on theoretical and scientific-artistic approaches, including symbol and sign. In fact, by studying and analyzing designs and patterns of carpets on the basis of a semiotic system, semantic signification of them can be analyzed. Accordingly, a carpet with corner-medallion pattern as well as a pictorial carpet among carpets of Hamedan is studied here. Hamedan is one of the most important areas of carpet-weaving, especially in terms of rural style. Pictorial and corner-medallion designs were selected for better manifestation of the differences between symbol and sign, since there are occasionally considered to be identical that and sometimes to be different. Based on what was said, the research question is that "Can the differences symbol and sign be studied in the pattern carpets and to obtain semantic significations in the contest of semiotics? Accordingly analytical and comparative methods as well as desk study method for data collection have been employed. First the theoretical bases of the research have been reviewed and then the selected samples have been studied regarding such theoretical criteria. The results of this research include: understanding the differences between symbols and signs in pattern of hand-made carpets, the effectiveness of semiotic system in the process of analysis of such symbols and signs as well as achieving semantic implications of patterns through conceptual abundance, based on semiotics method.

Studying the Changes of "Tiny Fish" Carpets in Birjand during Recent Decades

Elyas Saffaran

Birjand is located in the east of Iran and is the center of South Khorasan province. Birjand's carpets have its own characteristics in terms of motifs, coloring and structure that are outlined in this paper. Tiny fish is among the most widely used and popular motifs on the carpets of Birjand. This original and old motif is woven now in more than half of such carpets and can be seen on approximately ninety percent of exported carpets from Birjand. This paper attempts to study changes and developments in these carpets, in terms of design, motif, coloring, size and number of knits during recent decades of the present century using a descriptive method. Data collection for the study was conducted using desk study as well as interviews, observation and photographing some samples of tiny fish carpets. Tiny fish is a motif consisted of a central square with a eight-leaf flower and two leaves (abstracted fish) around it that has been evolved over several decades in the form of continuous, adobe-shaped, as well as corner-medallion. Over time, the original structure of the motif has remained unchanged, but its size has been reduced. Change of color from dark colors like blue and red to bright ones such as white and pale yellow is another change occurred in recent decades in tiny fish carpets of Birjand. These changes are mostly due to market demand, i.e. to meet the expectations of the customers, and sometimes due to the tendency of the weavers to weave more simple and economical designs, which in turn has led to change or persistence of some of the forms of tiny fish.

Feasibility of Anti-staining and Hydrophobicity Process for Silk Carpet Using Silicone Composition

Zahra Ahmadi

Persian silk rugs are the most intricate, and often most valuable ones among all hand-knotted carpets. Silk is luxurious, lightweight and soft. Additionally fineness of silk carpet is amazing. Then it is very important to improve its quality and useful life time. During its usage, a typical high quality Persian or Oriental silk rug is exposed to many water-based stains. Although there are now a number of luxury silk carpets on the market, oddly enough they stain easily with the simplest of liquids, i.e. water. That can be bad news for investing goods such as carpets made of this expensive fiber. Getting a water stain out of silk can be tricky, but it is possible. Moisture absorbency of natural silk yarns leads to easy staining of these products by these kinds of pollutants such as tea, coffee, juice, etc. as well as their decreased life time. Textile substrates with super hydrophobic surfaces have attracted much attention for industrial applications and it is a very important resource of advanced materials and new technologies; while this is not applied in hand-woven carpet industry. In this paper hydrophobicity of silk carpets with good compatibility has been improved by treatment with Nano-poly di-methyl silicone. The silk substrates were modified with a silicone compound to achieve low surface energy. Dyed silk by metal complex 2:1 acid dyes as pile yarns and cotton warp yarns applied to weaving silk carpets, and kilims. Treatment by nano-poly di-methyl silicone has been done in low temperature. Evaluation of treatments has been done according to AATCC Test Methods. Durability and stability of surface-treatment of silk carpets were measured too. After washing of carpet and dye-injection on the surface of carpet, contact angle and wet-out time measurements on the silk carpets still show much improved hydrophobic properties. The resultant silk carpet exhibits superior water repellent properties.

Identifying and Classifying the Enablers of Hand-woven Carpet Industry's Supply Chain Performance

Esmaeil Mazroui Nasrabadi

Supply chain management is one of the subjects that much attention has been paid to it. Today competition of companies is not important anymore but supply chains are competing, so paying attention to supply chain is necessary and vital. Performance enablers of supply chain have been studied in a scattered manner; however these efforts are not comprehensive enough. In this paper these enablers are studied and classified. This paper has been conducted for handmade carpet supply chain. Handmade carpet is one of industries that has a good position in Iran, however the number of performed scientific researches in this field in not enough. This research has done in Kashan and exploratory factor analysis and second-order factor analysis have been employed. After exploratory factor analysis, enablers are classified into some groups, i.e. leadership and management, knowledge and information management, cooperation, ethic, relationship in supply chain, performance measurement, capacity management and strategy. Among these factors, leadership and management and cooperation are more important. Finally, we provide some recommendations to improve these factors.

Factors Effective on Diversity of Isfahan Hand-knotted Carpet

Seyed Jalal-eldin Bassam

Diversity in the design of hand-knotted carpet may satisfy different tastes in the market as well as cause a boost in the purchase of the product. Isfahan hand-knotted carpet has a unique quality and originality in its design, but these characteristics are almost solely well-known in Isfahan market, so that in the national level, most buyers of Isfahan carpet comprises of Isfahani people. In the current state of affairs bearing the sanctions in the mind, preservation and promotion of Isfahan carpet is of great importance to support the weavers and employees of this industry and to improve their welfare as well as continuation of this national art. In this paper, the hypothesis is that the design of Isfahan carpet suffers from lack of diversity in such a way that it acts as a hurdle in the promotion of the carpet market. To examine this hypothesis, 152 questionnaires were distributed in Isfahan and Tehran carpet markets. Also some questionnaires were filled by Isfahani entrepreneurs and designers of carpets. Sampling was done according to Convenience Sampling method and the answers to the questionnaires were analyzed by the inferential and descriptive statistical analyses. The results demonstrate that if customers would have more favorable attitudes towards Isfahan carpet, the purchasing motivation would increase. Also lack of organized marketing strategy and insufficiency of potent designers are among the factors snagging diversity in the design of Isfahan carpet.