MANY people are not familiar with carpets, especially the expensive Persian ones made of silk. They simply dismiss them as a functional article at home, used either for wiping their feet or as a tabletop covering.
This cavalier attitude toward carpets caused a sense of disquiet in Ali Asghar Mohammadi, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“Using a carpet needs a culture, because some of the people do not even know how to use carpet,” Mohammadi said.
“I was in Malaysia once, and a lady was telling me, ‘I bought a silk carpet and I put it on the earth.’ I said, ‘You should not put it on the earth.’”
It seemed the blissfully ignorant housewife used the expensive carpet as a floor covering for her visitors to gawk at or step on.
A tapestry, not a rug
The Iranian envoy said Persian carpets are hung on walls, like paintings. He explained that carpets that are laid down on the floor are usually the cheaper ones and are made of wool or sometimes a combination of wool and cotton.
“Silk carpets are very light that you can carry it in one finger,” he said, extending his forefinger to demonstrate how it is done.
“How much does a real Persian carpet cost?” I asked the good ambassador. “Should I start saving now, so that when I visit Iran, I would be able to buy one?”
“You don’t have the time to save now,” he replied with a laugh. He meant that the real deal is very expensive, and that no amount of saving in my remaining years would enable me to buy an original, authentic, Persian-woven silk carpet.
He said Persian carpets come in different sizes and qualities, and some cities in Iran have their own style of weaving.
“Only an expert can recognize that this belongs to one city and that one to another city,” he explained, because each city has its own distinct design.
In a way, the design of Persian carpets have something in common with Scottish tartans, which are associated with either a specific region, district, or clan.
Mohammadi said a Jewish professor in Singapore, who is in the carpet and rug business, had written a book explaining the meaning of the various designs of Persian carpets.
“Its history and the weave has meaning. It’s a sort of self-expression,” he said of his country’s No. 1 export product, which he calls “the king of carpets.”
Mohammadi dismisses commercially sold Persian carpets that are machine-made and made in countries other than Iran.
A Persian carpet is an essential part of Persian art and culture. Carpet weaving is one of the most distinguished manifestations of Persian culture, dating back to ancient times.
The extent of the Persian Empire
The Persian Empire used to include regions that would later become Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan. Many thought the country changed its name from Persia to Iran after the Islamic Revolution that deposed Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the self-proclaimed King of Iran who was overthrown in 1979.
However, the Iranian envoy said it was in 1931 when Persia was renamed Iran.
In 2008 Iran’s exports of handwoven carpets was at $420 million, or 30 percent of the world’s market, according to Wikipedia. There is an estimated population of 1.2 million weavers in Iran producing carpets for domestic markets and for international export. Iran exports carpets to more than 100 countries, as handwoven rugs are one of its main non-oil export items.
“The country produces about 5 million square meters of carpets annually, 80 percent of which are sold in international markets. In recent times, Iranian carpets have come under fierce competition from other countries producing reproductions of the original Iranian designs, as well as cheaper substitutes,” he said. “The designs of Persian carpets are copied by weavers from other countries, as well.”
Iran is also the world’s largest producer and exporter of handmade carpets, producing three quarters of the world’s total output. This ancient tradition has come under stiff competition from machine-made products. Iran is also the maker of the largest handmade carpet in history, measuring 60,546 square feet (5,624.90 sq m).
The most famous Persian carpet from antiquity is a large example of the Safavid style known as the Ardabil carpet, which is on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. This has been the subject of endless copies ranging in size from small to full scale.
Wool is the most common material for carpets, but cotton is frequently used for the foundation of city and workshop carpets. There are a wide variety in types of wool used for weaving. Experts say that due to their rarity, value and lack of durability, silk carpets are often displayed on the wall, like tapestries, rather than being used as floor coverings.
A culture unique from the West
Having been immersed and feeling the heavy weight of culture in their daily lives, it is but natural that Iran should feel slighted that when so-called western values are imposed on them, like the wearing of neckties.
“That is not part of our identity, because we don’t want to follow [others]. We need our culture to be Eastern itself, not of Western-dictated cultures,” Mohammadi said.
That is why it is now familiar for Iranian leaders everywhere, even in the United Nations, to appear wearing collarless dress shirt and a jacket.
He said relations between the Philippines and Iran must date back hundreds of years when early Filipino seafarers sailed across the South China Sea and came ashore the Asian mainland to sell their wares to China. These items would eventually find their way on the Silk Road, which passes through Iran.
“Maybe it is a good enterprise to study our histories because we believe that Iranian traders via the Silk Road centuries ago came to visit the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia,” the Iranian envoy said.
“Persians have been in the Philippines a long time ago. I was in Japan, in a museum in Nara, and found the Japanese emperors’ blue color. I believe [the color] goes back to Persia, not Japan,” he added.
A common link
Lately, he said many Iranians come to the Philippines to study, since relations between Tehran and Manila were established 50 years ago.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have copies of the bilateral ties. That’s why, recently, some people in the universities are trying to put the information and to publish articles related to our bilateral relations,” he said.
At the moment, close ties among the citizenry is expressed by Filipinos marrying Iranians and vice versa.
As a result of this, “Philippine companies in Iran are family-based, not multinationals,” Mohammadi said, which we greeted with enthusiasm.
He explained that his country has a good community of Filipinas married to Iranians. On the other hand, there is a very limited number of Iranian females who married to Filipino males.
“That’s our common link,” he said.
Between 2,500 and 3,500 Iranian students are now studying in the country, drawn here by low tuition and the use of English.
In 2011 before sanctions were imposed on Iran, its trade with the Philippines amounted to $1 billion. He said it has been going down since then.
The sanction came into effect in 2012, when Iran was accused of trying to make an atomic bomb from nuclear materials. The UN Security Council passed a resolution and imposed the sanction after Iran refused to suspend its uranium-enrichment program. Targeted investments include oil, gas and petrochemicals, exports of refined petroleum products, and business dealings with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The only Iranian investment remaining now in the country is a $125-million petrochemical plant in Bataan.
On the other hand, Iran imports huge volume of banana, mangoes and pineapples from the Philippines to the tune of $250 million. However, because of the sanctions, our exports have to go through a third country, like Dubai or Turkey.
Image credits: jimbo Albano