Malayer handmade rug takes your last breaths
One of the activists in the field of carpets in the city of Malayer; In 1998, instead of setting up a carpet weaving workshop in Kashan, I decided to set up a carpet weaving workshop in Malayer to create jobs for my fellow citizens. Set up a workshop. The house is now multiplied in price, but the workshop is not very prosperous due to the lack of support from the authorities and the outbreak of coronary heart disease. A workshop with a capacity of 30 9-meter carpets, continues to work with only 10 carpets.
In ancient times, humans used animal skins to cover themselves, but little by little, they realized that the skin would break and fall down after being turned over several times. So he gradually learned that if the skin is tanned, it will last longer. In fact, financial felt was the first technique of working on the skin, after which the first man realized the weaving of kilims. The added delicacy of kilim weaving created carpet weaving as an indisputable art.
The oldest known rug found in Soviet Siberia by an archeological expedition is the Pazyryk rug. This carpet is garlic blue and belongs to the third century BC or 3000 years ago. It is interesting that the way of weaving it is not much different from the weaving technique today and its role is taken from Achaemenid designs. Another old rug has been found around Mongolia. This carpet was used as a horse cover and belongs to the Achaemenid period. The two carpets are now housed in the Hermitage Museum in Russia. At the end of the Timurid period and the beginning of the Safavid dynasty, the art of carpet weaving became very prominent in Iran. In the Carpet Museum of Iran, there are examples of carpet weaving of the Qajar period with a history of nearly 200 years.
Goat wool is not used for carpet weaving due to its roughness, which is why fleece is used. The basis of carpet weaving is the knots that are tied on the weft. The knots are made of fluffy wool or silk, which have already become the desired colors. The more these knots are on the surface of the rug, the higher the quality and strength of the rug. The method of knitting is different in different parts of Iran.
Mohammad Amini is one of the carpet weaving art activists in Malayer who has a 36-year-old carpet weave embossed on his face. He used to decorate the table of more than a thousand families until the 80’s, like the original Iranian carpet designs, colorful and prosperous, but today, due to the negligence of many officials, this number has been reduced to 200 people.
In an interview with ISNA, Amini considers carpet weaving one of the most valuable and important artistic professions in Iran and says: When Dr. Mossadegh was asked, “What would you do if you could not sell the country’s oil?” He replied, “We will replace the carpet.”
A carpet that was the capital of the people of the house
According to Amini, in the 1970s, a third of the people of Malayer made a living by weaving carpets, and from the Amirkabir three roads to Imam Khomeini Square, there were about 80 rows of carpet and cream shops. For many years, the patterns of the twigs, the elastic of the bergamot, and the four claws of the mane, which breathed new life into the lifeless bodies of the houses, were the capital of the inhabitants for many years. Two handmade carpets were an integral part of the dowry of every young couple who could later make a shed by selling the same capital.
Referring to the decline of hand-woven carpets in Malayer since the 1980s, he explains: Out of 120 carpet shops that operated in Malayer in those years, only three or four remained, which is one of the main reasons for the expansion of carpets. Machining, changing raw materials and using crude raw materials and replacing spinning machine wool instead of spinning hand, which in addition to reducing the quality of carpets and dulling the domestic and foreign markets of Iranian carpets, led to the unemployment of many producers of these raw materials. Followed.
The original map of each area fades
Amini considers the interference of the role of carpets in different cities or villages as one of the main reasons for the diminishing role of the original role of carpets in each city and continues: Which is not specific to the area where they live, for example, the role of the four-pronged business is woven by Jozani women and the role of Jozani screw by the people of Hosseinabad and this interference destroys the original plans of each area.
According to Amini, the carpet map of each region should be woven by the same region, but it is possible to update the designs by creating variety in the design, for example, change some colors that the current society does not like, but the main map should be the same because If we turn away from the original map of each region, we will fail.
In response to the question why some people are looking for old carpets, he reminds: Many people are looking for old handmade carpets because in addition to good quality raw materials, they have a quality color and original design. So, one of the important blows to the handmade carpet, in addition to removing the original map of each area, was the replacement of hand-made raw materials with spinning machines, which made a small price difference between these two types of raw materials. Today, every rug that comes down from the rug is with the raw materials of a race car.
According to Amini, handing over the work to non-experts and uninformed people has caused fatal blows to the original designs of Iranian carpets. Do not have.
He reports on the growth of the market for the sale of handmade carpets in Iran and adds: “In 99 and 1400, we saw a 40% growth in the domestic market of handmade carpets, and turning 60% of the Iranian people to buy handmade carpets is a great advantage that should be Kept.
Setting up a carpet house needs support
Amini considers Malayer, Nahavand and Tuyserkan carpets to be among the best-selling carpets in the country, which are the mainstay of Tehran International Exhibitions, and says: He solved the city.
According to him, if the required places and permits are provided and with the support of city and provincial officials, a carpet house will be set up, including the production of high-quality raw materials, traditional or vegetable dyeing, weaving, weaving training and traditional carpet washing. It can directly or indirectly create employment for 10,000 people.
A house that was sold to set up a carpet weaving workshop
Sharifi is another carpet activist in Malayer who has a 13-year history of carpet weaving in Kashan. Instead of setting up a carpet weaving workshop in Kashan in 1998, he decided to set up a workshop in Malayer to create jobs for his fellow citizens. And set up his workshop. The house is now multiplied in price, but the workshop is not very prosperous due to the lack of support from the authorities and the outbreak of coronary heart disease.
In an interview with ISNA, she stated that she has set up her workshop at the Malayer Sisters Vocational Technical Center at the expense of selling her house: “This workshop has a capacity of 30 9-meter carpets.” I started with 10 carpet weavers and I hoped to expand the workshop with the support of relevant bodies and facilities to provide employment for more people, but unfortunately due to lack of support, we are currently working to create employment for 15 women.
Poor quality raw materials have dealt the biggest blow to Malayer carpet
Sharifi, who in addition to creating jobs, has trained 200 students in this workshop so far, continues: The poor quality of raw materials has dealt the biggest blow to Malayer carpet. The carpet that is woven from these low-quality materials, in addition to being rough and coarse, mixes the color after two washes.
According to this entrepreneur, the old carpet of Mishan Malayer village was once blown up in Abbasabad Bazaar in Tehran, but now due to lack of quality, the sales market has become very weak. They use polyester fabric instead of cotton. However, if quality materials that have a higher price are used, the woven carpet will definitely be sold at a higher price and the buyer will buy this carpet with full satisfaction.
Sharifi adds that until 1980, Malayer carpet was not comparable to Kashan carpet, adding: At that time, Kashan carpet was much weaker than Malayer carpet, but due to the support of carpet weavers, now it is not comparable to Malayer. If I had been to Kashan, I would have received facilities 50 times so far, but unfortunately no care will be taken for Malayer carpet weavers.
Reduction of Malayer carpet exports due to poor quality raw materials
The head of the Malayer Carpet Union considers the most important problem in the field of carpets in this city to be poor quality raw materials and raises the issue: When the raw materials are not of good quality, quality carpets are not produced, so there will be no good market. The reason is that Malayer carpet has no way out, that is, the export of carpets from Malayer has become very low.
Some carpet weavers’ insurance has been cut
In an interview with ISNA, Ismail Ghiasvand informed about the termination of insurance for some carpet weavers and said: in addition to not providing any facilities to carpet weavers, the insurance of many of them has been terminated and the carpet industry in Malayer is being destroyed because no producer He does not want to produce carpets.
Assigning the carpet to Samat Organization; The main reason for the destruction of the art of carpet weaving
The chairman of the board of directors of the Hamedan Carpet Union states that the history of carpet weaving in Malayer dates back to the Qajar period, stating: For several years now, instead of upgrading the position of the carpet, this position has been declining and becoming weaker every day.
In an interview with ISNA, Ahmad Maleki said that the reason for the decline in the position of carpets in recent years is the negligence of government officials and continues: Woven carpets were bought and sold by carpet weavers, but have been forgotten since 1982, when the carpet union was transferred to the Department of Commerce and then to the Department of Industry, Mines and Trade.
He points to the 80% loss of Iranian hand-woven carpets and states: Although Jihad Keshavarzi has no responsibility to the hand-woven carpet union, it has given two rooms and a warehouse to carpet weavers and we are currently working here. He did not give us the place, the same union was closed.
According to Maleki, if this situation continues, this original Iranian art will completely disappear within the next one to two years. As it is now in the cities of Razan and Kaboudar Ahang, it has disappeared and is completely closed.
1800 carpet weavers in Malayer
The chairman of the board of directors of the Hamedan Province Carpet Union points out that out of 6,000 carpet weavers in Malayer city, 1,800 carpet weavers who have carpet weaving insurance are active. We provide them with raw materials, but unfortunately we have not made any help because we have no capital. However, if a carpet weaving workshop is invested and set up, about 100 carpet weavers can be employed daily in Malayer.
He lists the fish patterns of Hosseinabad village, Pich Jozan and Chahar Cheng Kasab and Nang as the most well-known patterns of Malayer carpets in the world and says: At present, due to the lack of support for carpet weavers, these patterns are very weak and no facilities are given to carpet weavers. If he is awarded, the banking conditions are so harsh that they give him a gift. For 18 years, no carpet weaver has been able to receive facilities to develop his work.
The price of raw materials has increased many times and the quality of these materials has decreased many times
According to Maleki, the multiplication of raw materials for carpet weaving is another important problem of the activists of this art, so that the raw materials have increased from 25,000 Tomans per kilogram to 90,000 Tomans. However, instead of improving the quality, these materials are offered with much lower quality.
The chairman of the board of directors of the Hamedan Carpet Union reminds: the same 1800 carpet weavers, because they are covered by insurance, have to continue their activities and have kept this art of industry in Malayer with their teeth and claws.
Assignment of carpet industry to agricultural jihad or cultural heritage; The only way to save this original Iranian art
Maleki wants to change the position of the custodian of this industry from Samat Office to Jihad Agriculture or Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization so that maybe this original Iranian art will return to its special place and flourish again by supporting carpet weavers and providing facilities to them.
According to ISNA, the roles of Pich Jozan, Chaharcheng Ghadim, Lachak Toranj, Haj Khanoumi, Naghsh Angouri, a fish plant, a pot of Jozan Valley, five stars, underground and the role of Malayer handmade carpet plants until the 80s in the country and even in many places. The world is famous now, but due to the supply of low-quality raw materials and the production of substandard carpets, in addition to harming the global market, the hands of the carpet weaver, who created a play full of life and knot on the knot, have lost 6,000 carpet weavers. Only 1,800 people remained in the city. On the other hand, during the last 18 years, no financial support has been provided to the carpet weavers and none of them has succeeded in obtaining facilities. It seems that the authorities are watching the filling of Malayer carpet flowers one by one. Isn’t it time to transfer this original Iranian art from an organization that has no support for carpet weavers to another organization that has the necessary capacities and facilities to support this art?