Hamedan is one of the centers of carpet trading in Iran, where weaving carpets have also been practiced from a long time ago. In the past it was from this trading route that the carpets from center and western areas of Iran were sent to Iraq and other Arabian and European countries.
In terms of style, Hamedan carpets are considered village products. Because of the geographic location of this city and its neighbors, Arak and Kerman, two other ancient manufacturing centers, the carpets of these areas attracted the attention of major western trading companies during the final years of Qajar dynasty. In Europe, the Hamedan rugs are called “Mosul rugs (a city in Iraq)”, however the reason for this is not known, and today they are identified by their size. Usually the urban carpets are woven in 2 meters by 3 meters, or 2.5 meters by 3.5 meters. But most common village carpets are 2 meters by 1.3 meters.
There are very few documents about carpet manufacturing in Hamedan, but a common belief is that it has a very long history. For example, it is found in the historic recordings that as a gift, Shah Tahmasp of Safavid dynasty gave Soleiman, the Ottoman king, a carpet. It can be concluded that people of Hamedan have been making carpets from 400 years ago.
Based on the place of workshops, hand woven carpets of Hamedan can be divided into 2 groups of rural and village. Most of the village carpets of cities around Hamedan, Toysarkan and Nahavand are created by using single weft, while the other areas are created by double weft. The weaver use Turkish knot, which can be created fast, skillfully, and without loop. Stretching the wraps of Hamedan carpets are done in both Persian and Turkish style. Hamedan carpets have very long threads and they are later trimmed by hand scissors and not machinery. The motifs used in patterns of these carpets are geometrical and rarely curvilinear. To create the Hamedan carpets, the weavers use colors such as Ibraghi (bright green), yellow, gold, orange, blue, bright pink, crimson red, dark brown, cream, turquoise, white, black and wool in its raw color.
