After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the Tehran carpet exhibition resumed this week with some 400 exhibitors from all over the country, while abroad India, China and Turkey are cutting corners considerable market shares in Shiraz, Tabriz, Qom or Isfahan.
But Ahad Azimzadeh, who presents himself as “the largest exporter of Persian rugs in the world”, is convinced of the inevitable upheaval that is occurring in this centuries-old craft.
“A revolution is underway,” says the 65-year-old man.
“Of course, traditional carpets have their customers, but the future belongs to modern handmade carpets”, he says in front of a 3 m2 weave, representing 102 world-famous personalities such as Charlie Chaplin, Stalin or Einstein.
It took five years to complete this work, which he sells for nearly 90,000 euros.
By way of comparison: a 2,000 m2 Tabriz is displayed at nearly 120 million euros and a 170-year-old silk Kashan is on sale for around 160,000 euros.
The oldest surviving Persian rug is 2,400 years old and is on display in the Hermitage Museum, Russia. But it was during the Safavid period (16th-18th century) that the art of Persian rugs reached its peak.
“The classic patterns of Iranian rugs are thousands of years old, but today there is a strong demand for contemporary shapes, more suitable for modern homes,” he says. “The colors are clear, and the dimensions smaller. This is what the new generation wants.”
– “Changing mentalities” –
In his stand, however, traditional rugs dominate.
“We will gradually put them away. Next year, 70% of the carpets on display will be modern”, adds this self-made man, who started weaving at the age of seven before embarking on the carpet business in Isfahan. at 14.
Iranian rugs remain highly appreciated by connoisseurs, but sales have plummeted in 30 years, the country having been overtaken in particular by India and China.
“In 1994, the amount of sales of Iranian carpets abroad amounted to 1.7 billion dollars and represented 40% of our non-oil exports,” Ahmad Karimi Esfahani, head of the Union, told AFP. manufacturers and exporters of handmade carpets.
But in 2021-2022, sales are down to just $64 million, according to the National Carpet Center in Iran.
“The sanctions have certainly had an impact, but the decline is mainly due to the great diversity of carpets on the market and the change in mentalities and tastes of new generations”, explains Mr. Karimi.
“Nowadays, people perceive the rug as a consumer good to be put on the doorstep, whereas in the past it was an investment, and the rug represented capital for the future. It has lost its status as a object of art”, he laments.
– “Fashion” –
Third generation of traders, Abbas Arsin created 25 years ago what he calls the “transitional carpet”.
This consists of fading the too bright colors of pieces with traditional patterns, by rubbing them and exposing them to the sun.
“When I started with this technique, my father and my older brother did not understand what I was doing. But when I exhibited my first pieces and the clientele was there, they told me not to do just that,” says the 40-year-old man with a smile.
According to him, India, Pakistan, Turkey or China have overtaken Iran in the international carpet market, because “we Iranians had less relations with the rest of the world. We did not see the changes take place”.
However, this revolution is not unanimous at this 29th edition of the annual carpet exhibition in Tehran.
Mehdi Jamshidi, sales manager of Iran Carpet Company, whose slogan is “Walk in a Persian garden!”, says that the company “started making carpets with modern patterns a year ago, but this does not represent than 5% of our production”.
“I don’t think we’ll go any further,” says the 42-year-old executive. “Modern carpets will never replace the traditional ones rooted in our culture and our regions”.
“It’s a fashion and like every fashion it will disappear,” said Hamid Sayahfar, a 54-year-old carpet trader who lives between Tehran and Toronto. Modern pieces are “perhaps good for decorating offices but not for a living space.”