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| Our old Hamadan rug is now in the entry |
For a while now, a larger carpet for the living room has been on the agenda. We had in there a Hamadan Persian rug about 5'x8', which had beautiful deep reds and blues, and looked very nice in the room, but it was not nearly as big as we would like. George has been looking for a while, and the last few weekends he took me along to rug shops to start looking in earnest. We liked the look of a Persian rug, but were also looking at other options. We learned a lot about rugs along the way. For instance, good rugs are made from "live wool", whereas lesser quality rugs are made from "dead wool". Live wool, that is, wool sheared from live sheep, retains oils and lanolin that keep it supple and soft but also more durable. Dead wool, retrieved from sheep hide, uses a lye process that strips those good oils and leaves the wool more brittle and less durable. Who knew? So we learned to feel the quality of the wool in the carpets. We also learned, when looking at the colors of a carpet, that there was often a "light side" and a "dark side". Because the carpet threads generally laid in a particular direction from the way they were woven, looking at the carpet from one side would see more of the threads' length making the colors appear richer and darker, while from the other direction, the colors would appear lighter. So you need to look at the carpet from different angles, and you'll want to be particular about which direction it is laid in your room, depending on the light in your house and the impression you want. Last weekend, we found a shop in Pasadena that had a great selection of good quality carpets in colors and styles we liked, and in the size we were looking for. Sam at
Eastern Oriental Rugs on Colorado Blvd was very knowledgeable and helpful. He showed us a variety of rugs, not only Persian but also some Indian and Pakistani, but we were mostly drawn to a regional style of Persian rugs called Heriz, from the Azerbaijani tribal areas of northwest Iran.
The Heriz made quality handmade wool rugs using tribal designs and more durable vegetable dyes, but were early to adapt to the western market in the mid 20th century by making larger rugs than were traditionally made. (It turns out that an 8'x11' rug, while a desirable size for an American middle-class living room, is larger than Azerbaijani villagers want for their own more modest homes.) We picked out a half-dozen rugs that we liked, several in the deep red/blue tones we liked, but some in lighter tones too, and Sam brought them all over to our house on Sunday afternoon so we could see how they looked in our living room. There are several we could have been quite happy with, but one in particular we really fell in love with. It has the traditional Heriz pattern of a medallion in the center and a wide ornamental border, but Sam said it was from a family called Sharabian who had a distinctive style of organic elements in their design. Unlike the more geometric patterns of our Hamadan rug, it has elements that suggest flowers, leaves, and other organic forms. The colors are rich -- two shades of red, three shades of blue, with some cream and gold accents. And it's a generous 8'6"x12' that looks really luxurious in our living room. So we bought it and we love it. I've been spending more time than ever in the living room, just liking the feel of it on my stocking feet and the rich look of it while sitting by the fire.
