Traditional Gabbeh – 176 x 110cm

The Luri and Qashqa’i nomads who migrate over vast territories in Southern and Western Iran have long been famous for their carpets, made from the wool of their own sheep which they have carded and spun themselves. They are woven by the women of the tribes, on primitive portable looms which are stretched out on the ground. Apart from the fine more formal carpets for which the tribes are famous, they also weave another type of rug which are much more creative in design. These are the Gabbehs. Nowadays, to distinguish them from the new production of gabbehs woven in villages around Shiraz (and which are also excellent rugs) we tend to call the proper tent-woven pieces Old Gabbehs or Traditional Gabbehs

The best Old Gabbeh rugs have a spontaneity and a fluidity of design which is rarely seen in other types of rugs. The Iranian nomadic weavers have a great talent for pattern design and for colour, and usually these patterns are very carefully delineated. Old Gabbehs were however never intended to be bought and sold…as the weavers themselves say, they are ‘the rugs we weave for our own feet’

What gives them their special charm is their asymmetry and irregularity. Very often we can see a design developing in front of our eyes