The most famous characteristics and designs of handmade carpets

Each space needs a focal point to give it a unique look and elegance according to the principles of decoration and interior design with many tricks and more than one way, such as installing an art painting on the main wall, designing or decorating a fireplace, or having a decorative element in a certain way, and so on, but, For rug lovers, reaching this goal can be much easier than that, as rugs are the focus of attention in their home décor spaces, and the piece that is repeated in every room, adding color and pattern to the space.

What is handmade carpet design?

Carpet design in general is a representation of ideas in the form of different drawings on the surface of the carpet, and these designs are creative and meaningful.

With regard to handmade carpets , the first weavers used to create designs inspired by their imagination, through their observations of the nature around them in all its details, and at a later time the owners of the workshops began to rely on designs drawn on paper, to facilitate the preservation of traditional designs of carpets from extinction, and the designs in carpets usually consist of An inner field - the pattern in the center of the rug - and a decorative border surrounding this field.

 1. Carpet design with geometric patterns

Weavers created different colors, patterns and designs, and each area carpet had its own local characteristics, which, combined with the specific technical characteristics of each area, made it possible to recognize and distinguish the carpet from each other, and the diversity of carpet designs and patterns was one of the strongest factors of ingenuity and credibility These works of art, and the design with geometric patterns was one of the most prominent types of designs in oriental carpets in particular.

• Various geometric shapes (rhombus, square, triangle, octagon, etc.) , the geometric pattern is highlighted and encircled by a somewhat ornate outer border.
• Geometric patterns were often used by tribes in kilim weaving. Because the fabric uses vertical and horizontal threads, curves are difficult to form, and thus patterns are mainly formed using straight edges. Tribal geometric designs can be found all over the world, including the Caucasus, Turkey, and Far Morocco. These designs are often woven from the imagination of weavers, so they have a wonderful and unique charm. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the Berber Moroccan rug, as these rugs are characterized by a long pile and a diamond design, and the interlocking lines that form the diamond shapes are not completely straight or regular, but the imbalance In these designs is a major part of their appeal and aesthetics.

What are the characteristics of carpets with geometric patterns?

• Many designs and patterns were characterized by clear rectilinear geometry, however, the geometric design is not limited only to designs with straight lines, but also to those that contain medallions, scrolls and arabesques, and all this requires accuracy in angle and curve, in symmetry, size and position, and it was Islamic mathematicians and geometers are as much a part of rug making as the weavers themselves.
• In general, carpets woven with a geometric design are not specific to a nation or a city. Different tribes use different geometric designs in weaving carpets according to the traditions and tastes of their ancestors. What is important in the designs and patterns of different cities, villages, and ethnic groups and what makes them different is the way they draw and design these geometric shapes. Although they are all known for the use of geometric designs, they are characterized by subtlety, and from these fine details, it will be possible to distinguish them, for example, through fine details it is possible to tell to which tribe or group this carpet belongs.
• There was a clear difference between the Medina carpet and the tribal carpet, as the Medina carpet designs are distinguished by being more accurate in weaving and more clear in their construction, and one of the most important examples of the geometric design of the Medina carpet is the "Ardabil carpet", which is distinguished by the medallion design, which was found on the tomb of Sheikh Safi The famous Ardebili religion now resides in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Another example is the Serapi rug, which has a compact and highly detailed design featuring a central medallion surrounded by an open space bordered by a frond and a vine edge, and is one example of a geometric design inspired by floral patterns.

2. The design of the vase

Vase design, as its name suggests, is a design that includes a vase (vase) with flower branches in the middle, and the design is often in the shape of a jar. Most vase designs contain a large vase on one side of the carpet, with flower branches covering the entire carpet. The design of the vase combines with other designs and gives a beautiful effect to the hand-woven Persian carpets. Among the designs of the vase rugs we find: A Thousand Vases of Flowers, Public Vase, Khatai Vase, Mihrab Vase, and Zal-astani Vase. The pattern of the vase has been woven over generations. In Persian carpets, and there are many examples of this beautiful design in the Iranian Carpet Museum, and there are very beautiful and important examples of this design in museums of many countries around the world, and some of them have been shown in museums in Hamburg, New York, Paris, Milan, London and Tehran.

Vase-designed carpets are also beautiful and of high quality. In this carpet, the vase has large dimensions, and it is the origin of the intricate design resting in the middle of the field, and the inner ground is full of successive flowers, leaves and stems.

What are the characteristics of vase design?

The most important feature of this carpet model is the presence of vase-shaped designs of different sizes, and in some types of carpets with a vase design, a vase full of flowers is sewn that covers the entire carpet.

• Although the main feature of this rug is the design of a large vase full of flowers, in some rugs, instead of a vase full of flowers, many small vases are woven symmetrically around the middle or one by one all over the rug.
• The design of the vase is generally woven on one side in such a way that when the rug is turned upside down, the designs appear upside down.
• In some carpets woven with this design, images of wild animals or hunters on horses can be seen, which are various examples of this carpet.
• If we divide this rug pattern into four parts, the pictures of each part will be different, while this is not the case in other designs.

3. Tree of Life design

What are the characteristics of the tree of life design?

Trees are often depicted on carpets, sometimes realistically and sometimes simply and conventionally. Many trees are used in garden compositions. Persian weavers use similar tree designs using trees such as cedars and willows. Often the primary decorative element in carpets is directional design: in some Sometimes there are branches on the background with birds and other animals either perched on it or hidden behind the branches, and several branches of a tree branch out from a large central vase. Incorporating the tree of life design with other carpet designs is also common, in fact, and the types of trees used in it can be Tree design are cypresses, pines, willows and all kinds of trees with branches, flowers and fruits found in nature.

4. Medal design

It is the design that is used in carpets, which is dominated by one symmetrical central piece called a medallion, and this piece is often placed in the center of the carpet, and the medallions can be circular, oval, hexagonal, octagonal, diamond-shaped, or star-shaped, and the name may be given Sometimes also on a carpet on which the decoration consists of several figures of this kind or even of rows of medallions (medallions), and sometimes there are small floral decorations above and below the medallion, called pendants, and they usually consist of two parts, and medallion carpets are undoubtedly the most common in countries carpet producer.

What are the characteristics of the medal design?

Among oriental carpets, particularly those of the classical period, the medallion, or medallion in the form of an open lotus flower with 16 petals as seen from above, or in the form of a complex star, or quatrefoil with pointed lobes, is noted, and at each end of the carpet, may be added To this centerpiece is a cartouche (decorated oval or rectangular frame), set transversely, and a finial ring or sometimes very large pendant, and at each corner of the field may appear a quarter medallion, and may have the same characteristics and appendices as the central medallion Or not, and these combinations are still used in the decoration of modern oriental carpets as well.

5. The design of the mihrab

What are the characteristics and types of mihrab design?

Among the general features of this design, we can mention the use of two crescents in the upper part of the design, designed as one / two, and among the types of mihrab designs we find:

1. Simple niche design

The main difference between other types of mihrab designs and this design is that the simple mihrab design used in these carpets does not have flowers or shrubs in the inner part of the mihrab, or there is only a central bergamot tree in the middle of it.

2. The niche of the tree

In this design, one or more tree designs are drawn inside the middle of the carpet and sometimes under the mihrab arch, to decorate half of the carpet, and patterns of birds and flowers are used alongside the trees, and the design of this group of decorations can be implemented in symmetrical ways.

3. The design of the niche of the lamp

In the design of the mihrab of the lantern, a lantern, which is a symbol of light and actually represents the same lantern hanging in the mihrab of mosques, is suspended from the middle part of the arch of the mihrab with a ribbon or chains, and the lanterns are designed in the appropriate shape and size for their hanging place. Others like buds, plants, etc. to decorate the center of the mat.

4. The mihrab of the columns

In this design, the mihrab arch is placed on a column or columns, and these columns seem to be the support of the mihrab arch. In most cases, the method of placing the columns in terms of number is two columns and four columns.

5. The mihrab of the vase

In this type of design, a vessel is designed under the crescent of the mihrab, and most of the time, decorative elements like flowers, trees, etc. are used around the vessel.

6. Qashqai design

Another type of mihrab design in carpets is the Qashqai design, and these carpets have plant shapes, and not all design is limited to this style, because there are other different and beautiful designs. In one of these designs, a tree is used instead of the triangular structure of the mihrab, and the tree is considered one of the oldest symbols. Which humanity used in its artistic works, as we mentioned earlier, and some architects in the Islamic era used the tree pattern in place of the mihrab columns on carpets, and soon this design found its place among other Islamic artists, so they used it in their artistic activities, and before Islam, cypress trees, palm trees, and vines were used Pomegranates, etc., are used in artwork, especially in carpet weaving. After the advent of Islam, Toba trees, dates, olives, pomegranates, and figs became very popular in the design of mihrabs on carpets.

7. The design of the mihrab shamsa

8. The design of the inscription niche

In the carpet weaving industry, the term pattern refers to crowded designs in which the entire carpet is woven with designs of leaves, flowers, and bushes, and this type of carpet design associated with the mihrab design, is derived from ancient designs of handwoven carpets, which are mostly woven with small or large flowers.

Modern carpet designs

The passage of time and the succession of generations, the increase in development, and the creation of a difference in architecture and people’s lifestyle compared to the past led to the development of manual and machine carpet designs, and fashion tended towards bright colors and more simplicity in designs, as the production of automated carpet factories began to move towards a new production in the automatic carpet industry Using quality fibers and less expensive designs, countless types of modern designs have sprung up.

Carpets still represent one of the most valuable pieces of art acquired by museums and wealthy carpet collectors, and besides that, carpets have become one of the basic components of the standard of living today in the modern world, as the carpet with its various geometric and artistic designs adds warmth and dynamism to the space, and it is one of the most appropriate To add style and appearance without any crowding and chaos, and the designs in carpet weaving are among the most important elements of the identity and privacy of this exceptional art.

The diversity of the designs of the ancient hand-woven oriental carpets made it difficult for us to choose among all types of carpets, but they also showed the richness, splendor and treasures in the handmade oriental carpets. Therefore, we hope that this article has benefited you to know the most important and famous types of designs in the classic carpets , so that you can From choosing the designs that match your decor, and the fashion trend that suits you!