The city of Kerman is situated in South Eastern Iran, 1000 km south of Tehran in the Dasht-e-Lut desert. It is considered to be one of the major carpet producing areas of Iran and unlike other parts of Persia, Kerman was able to flourish with relatively little interference and invasions from the outside world due to it’s remote and isolated geographical location.
Kerman weavers were thus able to perfect their carpet skills in peace and as a result their artistic creativity flourished. The colour and dyeing skills of the region were unparalleled and the dyers of Kerman became famous for producing delicate and subtle light colour hues, not found elsewhere.
Kerman carpets typically feature rich traditional red and blue backgrounds that are beautifully ornamented with lighter and more intricate floral, vase-like and curvilinear designs. Carpets with central medallions and richly decorated fields of flowers, vases with oversized palmettes and thick floral borders are also characteristic to the region of Kerman.
The carpets are still considered to be among the most elegant and refined of Persian carpets although the quality of today’s carpets is unfortunately not as high as it once was.
In the 1920’s there was an increased production of lower quality carpets with thicker piles, simpler designs and less varied colour combinations to cater for the growing American market demand.
This trend has now slowly started changing and in the last 40 years carpets of higher quality and knot density, with more diverse colour variation and traditional Safavid designs are finding their way back to the market.