From the Most Delicate Tribal Rugs, the Garden of Roses and Cypresses
The Bakhtiari rug is a unique creation from one of the largest tribes of Iran, the Bakhtiari people, speaking in the Lori language. This tribe lives in the southwest of Iran among the Zagros Mountains and has a nomadic and rustic lifestyle. Nomads migrate from Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces to Khuzestan province twice a year, and finding fresh pastures is their main aim, as most of their life's economy is provided by their livestock. Nowadays, most of the Bakhtiari people live in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces.
Bakhtiari nomads' individuality and artistic souls result from living among meadows and mountains; let them create sophisticated handmade carpets of different types, like Gabbah, Kilim, Jajim, and saddlebags. Materials are gathered from nature and herds, like carpet yarn, dyestuff, and weaving tools. This lifestyle affected their carpet's designs, so we can say most designs represent nature, floral and tree designs, or symbols of nature. The noticeable point is that all designs are entirely imaginary, and Bakhtiari's women create all their handmade products.
Nomadic looms are horizontal and transportable, while sedentary tribes usually use stable vertical looms. They mainly use wool and cotton in their carpet structures. Typical Bakhtiari carpet designs are Kheshti, trees, medallions, vases, and Boteh, but the tribes mainly produce Kilims with symbolic and geometrical shapes in various sharp colors. Carpets have different densities, from "Khersak" carpets with long and tick piles to thin rugs called "Bibibaf" with high density.