Habibian Family

The Founders of Persian Nain Rugs

“ Habibian family created wonderful Nain rugs, brought to the world the high-quality Persian rugs woven by delicate materials that came from the desert land of Nain for more than a century.”

The History of Habibian Family

This noble family's story began when their Aba Weaving workshop came into difficulties. Aba was a distinctive outfit for males in Iran that is only worn by Mullahs today. This family lived in Nain, a small town in Iran's Isfahan province. While the province's capital has long been a leader in the Persian carpet industry, there was no evidence of carpet weaving in Nain; instead, the town was known for other textile productions woven with delicate textures and fibers.

In 1917, Mirza Baghaei established a school in this little town in his house, where Fatollah Habibian, the family's first son, studied there. Mirza decided to teach his students how to weave rugs and to show them the amazing procedures involved in the production of Persian carpets. Fatollah was one of the curious students who could make the first rug there in the school. Despite the fact that his family's work had nothing to do with carpet making, Fatollah was drawn to the fascinating world of Persian rugs. His passion for this art was influential to the point where he sold his first rug to compensate for the stagnation of their Aba workshop by setting up a carpet weaving workshop by the assistance of his brother, Mohammad Habibian.

The smooth surface, delicate texture, and superior fibers of Habibian rugs recall the family's Aba weaving workshop, where they created hundreds of professional-quality clothing for years. Fattolah also became honored in carpet designing and developed a unique style for the Nain rugs; indeed, what we now call Nain rugs owes its existence to the Habibian family's artistic bravery. He was inspired by the desert nature of his town to combine colors in his designs.
Even after the death of the Habibian brothers, the Habibian family maintained a unique interest in this sector. They gave such great pride to Nain rugs that these carpets, with their pure and neutral hues, now have fans all over the world.

Top Features of Habibian Carpets and Rugs

● Habibian rugs have high knot density, which creates a high-quality texture. These rugs usually have up to 100 knots per 7 cm of a weaving row.

● Most rugs have fine silk foundations and are woven with wool and silk yarn.

● The color harmony in Habibian rugs is minimalistic, mainly including neutral, bright, and cold colors like white, cream, blue, and gray.
All used fibers are dyed with natural dyes in the traditional vegetable dyeing technique.

● The unique architecture of Nain town influences the designs of Habibian rugs, which contain Safavid patterns and usually a central medallion.

Famous Artworks and Carpets of Habibian Family

Pictorial Moharamat Rug

This unique runner rug, woven in a Habibian workshop in Nain, is designed by Fatollah Habibian in a captivating design inspired by the architecture of Nain city. The basic structure of the pattern, called "Moharamat," a typical design in Persian rugs, includes stripes frames. Fattollah Habibian tried to display his hometown culture and art among traditional motifs of Persian rugs and attract the audience's attention to the central design of an urban context by an invisible rectangle created along three other pictorial designs. These graphic patterns, showing the identity of Nain city and Persian architecture, have excellent harmony with the color combination of the rug. The rug is woven with silk and wool in high knot density.

The Angels Rug

This rug is one of the most exquisite rugs of the Habibian family carpet workshop. The high-quality materials and texture of the rug and the design, which Fatollah Habibian does, is a narrative pattern. Persian miniature paintings inspired Fattollah for the design; as these paintings are highly delicate, he tried to use the finest fibers to weave the rug. You can see many heavenly birds and angles surrounding a main frame, including a mosque building. You can see the battle between Angels and phoenix with dragons, which always symbolizes the fight between good and evil in Persian history. The producer tried to use cream as a background color to maintain the balance of other colors.

Khayyam Poem Rug

Another masterpiece by Habibian family carpet workshop is Khayyam poem rug. This rug also called the sun rug include of a central circle with several layers and stripes background and border that contain a popular Persian poem from a famous Persian poet and scientist, Khayyam. The text of the poem is combined with traditional patterns, such as Eslimi and Khataie flowers, belonged to Safavid art. The rug has high quality, woven by silk and wool yarns on a silk foundation.

Habibian Family Collaborations and Honors

★ establishing the first carpet workshops in Nain and valuable entrepreneurship in this town

★ creating a unique style of Persian Nain rug with inspiration from Isfahan rug motifs
★ Reviving Nain art and culture in Iran and the world
★ Habibian family had a crucial role in the Nain town economy. They established two hospitals and did a lot of charities.