Naeen

Naeen is one of Iran’s small towns, which has a very old mosque. Naeen’s name is tied with a kind of rug that has many fans among modern products. Naeen is about 100 km from Isfahan and is on the way to Kerman. In this city around 30s, rug weaving was done, but there has never been much production. In 1940, the number of looms didn’t even reach 150.

In the last centuries, the main activity in Naeen was the production of expensive and often silk fabrics which were used for clerical clothe (Abah). In the beginning of the twenties, existing workshops throughout the country were hit by crisis due to the uncontrolled import of Western products. Many of these workshops were shut down and most of the work force started to produce rugs adorned with classic design and compete with Isfahan products. Naeen rugs were woven in traditional and rectangular dimensions, like Isfahan rugs. Naeen rugs have asymmetric knots and some of them are large in size (400×600 cm). The skill and ability of Naeen weavers, who have worked in workshops to produce extremely delicate fabrics, have created unique rugs that are the most densely woven rugs throughout Iran. Thr knot density is from 5000 to 8000 knots per decimeter.

In the local market Naeen rug are called Shesh la, because the warp and weft used in this rug consist of six strands of interconnected fibers, which were first twisted together in shape of S and the in shape of Z and there were also noh la rugs which were containing nine strands of fiber. In Naeen rug cotton yarn is commonly used for warp and they rarely use silk for warp; instead silk is used in weaving to illustrate the design as transparent and shiny.

This technique is called Gharty, and is an essential characteristic of Naeen rug. With this method thanks to the shine of silk fibers, designs appear to be more prominent. Colors that are mostly used are selected from a cool color spectrum: blue, hazel & cresm. Usually white silk fibers are used, and the designs used are traditional and almost uniform and repeated over and over again: Circular medallion and corners and curved floral designs on Herati’s borders and ground. Accidently, samples can be found that the flower design is used on grounds which are crowded or has a hunting scene. The village of Tudeshk is located in a short distance from Naeen and the best of Naeen rugs are woven in this village in the 40s and 50s. Naeen weavers have spread their method of weaving in many regions of Iran: In Qazvin, Varamin and some small centers such as Kharman, Kohan Dej, Biabanak, Baqer Abad and Pishwa. In each of these areas, rugs of the same type are woven. But the most dangerous rival of Naeen’s weavers is China, which produces a lot of rugs with imitation of Naeen rugs, which are quite similar in appearance. The colors for the rugs are similar to desert colors that are the color of the sun and the soil. Naeen rugs is the same color as the color of people’s lives in this region. Naeen consists of three parts called Anarak, Khor and Biabanak. Naeen has a total of 13 rural district and 830 villages. According to Edwards, there were about 150 rug weaving machines in Naeen in the 1930s. the first rug weaving workshop in this area was established in 1298 by Sajjadi brothers who learned rug weaving in Arak. In the Sajjadi brothers’ workshop, 17 people worked as rug weavers. The second workshop was established by Mullah Qasim Sadiq in Chehel Dokhtaran neighborhood. The new designs in Naeen rugs are owed to Master Fathallah Habibian.