A style of rug drawing built from angular shapes such as hexagons, diamonds and squares, outlined by straight lines, in contrast to the flowing curves of floral designs. It goes back to some of the oldest Persian rugs, before floral designs, and is typical of village and tribal rugs (Heriz, Hamadan, Zanjan, Abadeh, Karaja, Qashqai, Kazak, Turkmen), though city workshops such as Tabriz also weave it. Many shapes carry symbolic meaning. It comes as an allover pattern, a single central medallion or repeating medallions, and geometric rugs are known for strong borders. Because the shapes need little fine detail, a low-to-medium knot density is enough, as in Heriz and Karaja rugs, and Heriz is still known for durability.
A layout in which one large angular medallion stands at the center of the field, with separate corner designs and a much lighter pattern over the remaining ground, so the medallion is the clear focal point. Smaller geometric medallions often sit above and below the main one. It is typical of village and tribal rugs such as Heriz, Abadeh, Zanjan, Karaja and Qashqai, and is the angular counterpart of the floral center medallion.
A medallion whose outline is lined with hook-shaped projections sticking out from its edges, regarded as a distinctive feature of Karaja rugs. The bold geometric medallions of a Karaja, which alternate down a runner or repeat in columns over a wider rug, usually carry these hooks, and many small geometric shapes fill the ground around them.
Handcrafted carpets from Jaipur, India, known for their vibrant colors and intricate designs. Traditional Jaipuri rugs feature distinctive floral patterns, geometric motifs, and sometimes incorporate block-printing techniques. These rugs often use a cotton foundation with wool pile and are renowned for their craftsmanship, with techniques passed down through generations of artisans in Rajasthan.
Village rugs from a group of villages in the Azerbaijan region of Iran, at the western edge of the Heriz weaving area and named for the village of Karaja at their center. Wool pile on a cotton foundation (very old pieces may have a wool one), Turkish knot and single weft, so the pile is thinner and softer than the usually double-wefted Heriz, and knot density is low to medium. Two bold geometric medallions with hook-like edges typically alternate down a runner, often on a different ground color with each repeat, and on wide rugs the repeated medallions read as a geometric allover, in orange-reds, blues, creams and browns. Their soft, thin pile and great lengths, some over 20 feet (6 m), make them popular as hallway and stair runners.
A Persian term for knot density, used alongside the knots-per-square-inch figure (KPSI) to express how finely a rug is knotted. In Iran it is traditionally counted along a stretch of about 7 cm (2.75 in) of a row of knots rather than per square inch. A higher raj means finer, more detailed weaving, but the figure is easy to over-read: a bold geometric design needs a lower count than an intricate curved or floral one, so what matters is whether the density suits the pattern.
A layout in which two or more medallions run down the field in place of a single central medallion, which suits long runners where one medallion would look lost. The medallion outline usually stays the same while its inner pattern and ground color change from one medallion to the next. Karaja runners alternate two distinct medallions, and on wider Karaja rugs the columns of medallions read like a geometric allover pattern. The design is typical of geometric rugs such as Karaja, Heriz, Abadeh, Quchan, Shiraz, and older Mehraban, and it also appears in floral open-field rugs.
A long, narrow rug for hallways, entryways, staircases and kitchens, or placed in twos and threes beside a bed. Standard runners are about 2 to 3 ft (60-90 cm) wide and wider ones 3 to 4 ft (90-120 cm), with lengths from about 6 ft (1.8 m) to around 40 ft (12 m); Hamadan and Karaja are known for the longest. Heriz, Azerbaijan and Hamadan runners typically come wide, while wide Tabriz, Sarouk and Karaja runners are mostly older pieces. In a hallway, leave about 12-18 inches (30-45 cm) of floor at each end. Because a single medallion looks lost on so long a field, geometric village runners often repeat a medallion, varying its inner pattern or color between repeats; Karaja alternates two distinct medallions.
A construction in which the weaver passes just one weft thread between successive rows of knots. Because the warp is not fully covered, the back of the rug shows a zigzag of small white foundation specks, an easy way to recognize it, and the pile tends to be thinner and lower than in double-weft weaving. Single weft is standard practice in the greater Hamadan area, from Hamadan, Karaja and Mehraban rugs to Senneh and many Kurdish tribal pieces, and in the Hamadan-influenced type of Malayer rug.
A rug woven by settled villagers, sitting between nomadic tribal rugs and city-workshop rugs. Village weavers have better tools, materials and dyes than nomads but work in a looser, semi-structured setting than city workshops, often from memory rather than a drawn blueprint, and some sell through the bazaar of a larger nearby city, as Abadeh's weavers do in Shiraz. Designs are mostly geometric (medallion, all-over, boteh or Herati) with fewer florals than city rugs; knot density is usually higher than tribal but lower than city rugs, and varied loom sizes give a wide size range, from small pieces and runners to large rugs. Heriz is the best-known example, alongside Azerbaijan, Abadeh, Karaja, Mehraban and Senneh; Shiraz and Bakhtiari are also counted as village work in some classifications.
A rug base in which the warp and weft threads are wool instead of cotton. It is typical of tribal rugs such as Baluchi, Turkoman and Gabbeh (Gabbeh and Quchan sometimes use goat hair instead), turns up in some Qashqai, Shiraz, small Bakhtiari and Iranian Azerbaijan pieces, and is common in older village and tribal rugs, including some Hamadan and very antique Karaja. Experts use it as a clue to age, since rugs made after about the 1930s usually have a cotton foundation, once machine-spun cotton became widely available. Wool's soft, less rigid structure gives the design a fluid, warm character, and the fringes are sometimes braided or in different colors. The drawback is that wool shrinks and stretches with humidity, so these rugs tend to be less straight than cotton-based ones.