A Preliminary Guide Of Purchasing Persian Nain Rugs

Na’in (also known as Naein and Naeen) is a town 150km to the east of Isfahan in central Iran (Map). It is relatively new to the carpet world compared to ancient weaving centers such as Kashan, Isfahan, and Yazd. Follow A Preliminary Guide to purchasing Persian Nain Rugs to have a satisfying purchase.

Although it started out producing Isfahan carpets, in the mid-1930s Nain began developing its own style. Because carpet weavers from Nain worked with thinner wools, they began to weave rugs of much higher quality. Very fine and precise designs were created due to the high quality of the workshops in the area. Actually weaving carpets, a fine art, began in Na’in about the time of World War II.

The historical context of the Nain city

Fathollah Habibian (1903-1995) ran one of the most famous Na’in workshops and is widely regarded as ‘the father of Nain rugs’. Producing fine carpets with his brother Mohammed since his school days Fathollah Habibian is responsible for the design and weaving of some of the world’s finest Nains.

Since the number of carpets produced was low and the quality of carpets was exceptionally high, the weavers found a profitable market.

Carpet weaving in Nain has a history of using non-Iranian wools and of using local, traditional designs with unique coloring, thus drawing the attention of the world market to Na’in.

Nain’s carpets are woven in diverse places in Iran, thanks to the advent of technology. Weavers throughout Iran can weave any kind of carpet. But a prospective carpet buyer should consider that the quality of the same kind of carpet, in different places, is different.

Using natural and traditional colors and dying techniques peculiar to the region around Nain, carpet weavers in Na’in can easily profess that they are some of the best producers of handwoven carpets in all of Iran and the world.

Fathollah Habibian Naini

Why Nain Carpet?

Nain-style carpet is woven in different places in Iran – but the quality will be very different in each place. Nain, Todeshk (Tuteshk), Mohammadiyeh, Meybod, Jandagh, Khor, Kuhpayeh, and other cities near Nain have the best carpets. Be careful! If you buy the carpet outside of Iran, make sure it is not counterfeit. Recently, there have been Chinese and Indian carpets in the market, many workshops in these countries produce carpets as Persian handmade carpets!

Maybe that’s the best place to buy a hand-woven carpet in Iran for those who like to buy one or two. Naein’s carpets and cloaks are famous and reasonably priced. They generally have a lower price than Isfahan or Qom carpets. Either you buy it directly from the producers or through a carpet shop.

How to Identify Nain Carpet?

Nain Rugs usually have a cotton foundation with very soft wool or wool & silk pile. The majority of Nain rugs have at least some silk detail. Quality is measured not only in knots per square inch (KPSI) which averages about 300 but also in “La”. “La” in Farsi means layer. This denomination is used to decide the quality of a Nain carpet and it refers to the number of Layers of threads that have been used in every warp thread at the manufacturing of the carpet.

A Nain with a La of 9 (9la) is considered a good quality rug (the lowest quality of true Nains) while a La of 6 (6la) is the best and La of 4 (4la) has excellent quality. La is related to KPSI as it allows tighter knotting.

In other words: the lower La-number the finer and more expensive carpets, see the following enumeration.

4La = exclusive quality – 6La = extra-fine quality – 9La = good quality

It is very hard to find Nain 4La carpets today.

One reason that carpet was actually woven in Nain is so popular is that it uses predominantly natural and traditional colors rather than synthetic dyes. Other reasons include the sheer quality of the weft obtained from using mainly wooden looms.

This all means that Na’in can easily claim that it is one of the best producers of hand-woven carpets in all of Iran.

I hope Guide Of Purchasing Persian Nain Rugs has helped you, but feel free to contact me anyway.

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