Stone and Wood Handicrafts Exhibit to Be Held in Robat Karim

June 2, 2021 Health tourism in Qom The Tahoora Health Tourism Center will be set up in Qom Province in near future, said the central province’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Department, 5 CHTN reported. Iranica

On the occasion of World Handicrafts Day Stone and wood handicrafts exhibit to be held in Robat Karim

Iranica Desk

n exhibition of stone and wood handicrafts will be held in Robat Karim, participated by ten prominent handi- Acraft artists from the city in Tehran Province, on the occasion of World Handicrafts Day (June 10), announced the city’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Department. In both virtual and traditional face-to-face sections, the exhibition will be launched on June 5 and be run until June 11 on the occasion of the international day at the Haj Kamal Caravanserai, said the head of Robat Karim Cultural Heri- tage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Department, Hamid Karimi, CHTN reported. The official said that in the exhibition, the handicraft products of artists in the fields of turnery, wood mosaics, known as monabat-kari, woodcurving, inlay, known as khatam or khatam-kari as well as handicrafts including traditional mu- sical instruments and precious and semi-precious stone carv- ings will be on display and for sale. The exhibition aims to promote traditional arts by support- ing the direct sale of handicraft artists’ products, Karimi said. virgool.io baniboom.com

Sirjan’s Stone Garden, where hundreds of stones dangle from barren trees in middle of desert If you are heading towards the deserts of lasobscura.com wrote. away in 2007 at the age of 90, and was These stones are found in the surround- Kerman Province in the southeast of Iran, There’s also a remarkable story behind buried in his rocky garden. Although he is ing mountains that are 4 to 5 km far from take this 30-mile detour to see the Bagh- the garden. It was created by a hearing-im- no longer there to tell the story behind his the garden. According to Darvish Khan’s e Sangi, or Stone Garden. Just east of the paired and mute landowner named Darvish symbolic stones, the sight is still worth the relatives, the stones were collected by him town of Sirjan lies this remarkable place Khan Esfandiyarpour. Starting in 1961, he trip. Only around 6,000 people visit the from around and especially from the near- that looks otherworldly at first sight. hung each of the stones from thick wires site each year, so chances are good you’ll by mountains. In the middle of nowhere, surrounded and large ropes on the dying limbs. It was be by yourself – accompanied by just the This stone garden is a reflection of Dar- by only a few sheep, a new playground, a silent protest against the land reform plans stones and sheep. vish Khan’s life. Accodrding to his rela- toilet, and sand – lots of sand – lies this implemented by the Mohammad Reza The exciting thing about the Stone Gar- tives, he was so pleased because his disap- garden of stone trees. Hundreds of tall dry Shah (Pahlavi) regime that caused the man den is that all the rocks attached to the trees pointment and protest had led to a garden trees stretch across the sand, each with to lose part of his land, including his real are skillfully perforated, while there was that would never be destroyed. If we look stones small and large – some weigh- garden. The garden took on a new mean- no device or equipment for drilling the deeply at this garden, we will see the green ing over 20 pounds – hanging from the ing over the years, with a new tree added for stones. The presence of such stones in that heart of an artist who has tried to convey his branches. It’s a manmade heaven for each significant event in the man’s life. area where the stone is not available is sur- protests in the form of a permanent art to the iranindepth.com weird-seekers. It also looks incredible, at- Darvish Khan Esfandiyarpour passed prising, iranindepth.com wrote. whole world with his artistic language.

Tabriz rug, a brand tag in hand-knotted arts

Origin of Tabriz rug into a part of the carpet’s border. These signatures can, of course, It is not exaggerated to claim that be found on extremely fine rugs Tabriz rugs are the most popular made in other cities, but a signa- brand tag in the hand-knotted cat- ture on the ‘ceremonial’ border of egory. It may also be accurate to a Tabriz Naqsheh (Tabriz Pattern) declare Tabriz’s general area as the is the ultimate in formality and so- birthplace of rug weaving art. phistication. The material used for Tabriz rugs are examples of fine the pile of these rugs is wool, silk, traditional artistic items of home or a combination of the two. decor and ultimate luxury, intrigu- A beautiful blend of fine Kurk ing detail, captivating imagery, and wool and silk is the most common articulate designs. Tabriz is an an- in a fine Tabriz rug, with wool only cient city in northwestern Iran and used in those of average quality. the most prolific of all carpet cen- (Kurk wool is a kind of wool that ters, rugman.com wrote. is only taken from the neck and under the arms of young lambs.) In AMIR SADEQI/ISNA History of Tabriz rug the very finest carpets, the foundation of the rug is pure silk instead Tabriz is probably the most of cotton, and some even have 18 prolific carpet-producing center or 24 karat gold threads woven into in the world, and certainly one of the foundation, with 300 to 800 the oldest. This enchanted city was KPSI not being uncommon. The established at least more than four rugman.com thousand years ago. After many invasions, occupations, and wars, Tabriz took the ancient techniques of the past and created a huge rug- exporting industry. The best era of Persian Rug weaving was the Safavid Dynasty (1499–1722) when the Safavids overthrew the Turks who had oc- cupied Tabriz. They gave the city one of the first Royal workshops, making it the artistic center of Per- sian culture. Despite all the later AMIR REZA TAVASSOLI/ISNA conquests and political restructur- most on a base of fine cotton, but anywhere; the Naqsheh, with its ings, Tabriz managed to keep these sometimes on pure silk. The finer plethora of pinks on beige, or very ancient traditions alive. MOHAMMAD MOHSENIFAR/MEHR NEWS AGENCY Naqsheh and Mahi are mostly in occasionally, black; and the wild Today, many rugs produced in highly-priced Kurk wool, and silk but beautiful Tabatabaei, always Tabriz emulate the artistic heri- only rugs that can be compared cent Dome, depicting the internal is often used to outline lavishly the in touches of orange, lemon green, tage of the Persian Safavid carpet, with a fine Tabriz rug are carpets, architecture of a mosque. highlights of the rug. and beige. and when a designer in any part of woven in Isfahan, Kashan, Ker- the world wants to commission a man, Qom, and Naein. The most Characteristics of Tabriz rug Color Design and Pattern RERZA FARIDI/ISNA certain pattern to be hand-woven, spectacular ones are the Nagsheh pictorial wall hanging rugs can motifs, large palmettes, vases, or Tabriz is the city that he visits. At- (some of the several hundreds of Material and Knots Tabriz rugs have sub-styles as The best examples of Tradition- only be found among Tabriz rugs. vivid hunting scenes or pictorials testing to their pride in producing beautiful patterns are still owned well. These include the restrained al Floral Rug designs, geometrical There are many unique designs in the field. These can be with or fine carpets, the master-weavers of by private families), the intricate, The quality in their carpets and elegant ‘Mahi’ in coordinated patterns, extremely elaborate fa- but typically the pattern in a Ta- without a medallion, and geo- Tabriz often weave their signature restrained Mahi, or the magnifi- is generally exceptional, with borders of subdued tones that fit in mous fish designs, or fascinating briz rug is filled with dense floral metric designs are also seen.