The Nain workshop founded by Fatollah Habibian, who is said to have begun weaving in 1903 under his father and, after the family's older styles lost their market and its stock was sold off, started his own workshop with his brother. He is regarded as the creator of the modern Nain rug, and the name has become synonymous with Nain rugs: Persian-knotted, densely woven, intricately designed, with silk highlights and a modern look. Habibian is one of the few well-known signatures found on Nain rugs, most of which are unsigned, and the founder's grandsons carry the workshop on.
Fine Persian rugs from the city of Nain, near Isfahan in central Iran, where rug weaving began only in the 20th century on Isfahan's model and the Habibian workshop made the name known worldwide. The wool pile, often with silk highlights, is knotted on a cotton foundation at roughly 200 to 700 knots per square inch or more (about 31 to 108 per cm²). Density is graded by la (“layer”): the lower the number, the finer the rug, from about 650 KPSI at 4 la to 400-500 at 6 la and 200-300 at 9 la. Designs are curvilinear florals in medallion, allover or Shah Abbasi layouts, mostly on a cream or ivory ground with blue, beige and gray. Most Nain rugs are unsigned, though the Habibian signature is a well-known exception, and large sizes are scarce and costly.