Nain handmade carpet is one of the best types of carpets in the world, and knowing the most important features of these carpets can be very important for fans and buyers of Iranian carpets all over the world.

Nain city is located in the center of Shahr-e Nain on the southern edge of the central desert of Iran and southwest of Isfahan. The construction of this city dates back to pre-Islamic times. Due to the desert geography and dry and watery climate in this region, handicrafts have long been considered the most important source of income for its inhabitants. One of these industries, which was known as the city of Nain, was the production of canvas fabrics for the production of robes, which were usually made of high quality camel wool and with great delicacy.

With the development of the textile industry in Europe and the arrival of high quality and cheap fabrics in Iran, the Nain weaving industry lost its prosperity and this caused Naini weavers to weave carpets like other neighboring textile centers such as Kashan and Kerman. Because of the desert and saline soil, it was not possible to carry out other activities.

Read more: Isfahan handmade carpet at a glance| A study of the technical and appearance characteristics of Isfahan carpets

At the beginning of carpet weaving in this city, due to the lack of local designs and designs, carpet designs were provided from Isfahan and this factor caused the influence of Nain carpet designs from  Isfahan carpets. Accuracy in the accurate and flawless texture of Nain handmade carpets and their high elegance along with the use of high quality materials and materials, has made Nain handmade carpets one of the most beautiful carpets and as one of the most expensive Iranian carpets.

Design and motif of Nain handmade carpets

Impact of Nain handmade carpet designs from Isfahan handmade carpet designs For the reasons mentioned above, despite the independence in coloring the designs, it is one of the most important features of Nain handmade carpets.

Extensive use of elastic and terracotta designs with a combination of Islamic and Khatai motifs in Nain handmade carpets is so much that Nain handmade carpets are often identified with elastic and bergamot designs.

Other designs used in Nain handmade carpets include Shah Abbasi, pot, tree, bouquet or shrub, hunting ground, etc.

Not using the light shadow technique in coloring and designs, so that this factor along with other factors such as texture technique and color limitation has caused the production of visual effects of the traditional and Western type in the interior.

What are the characteristics of Nain handmade carpet coloring?

Dyeing of Nain handmade carpet designs due to the abundance of plants and natural dyes in the region, is usually done with natural dyes, among which the use of natural dyes such as pomegranate peel, walnut skin, hair leaves and rhubarb, has a special place.

Read more: Dyeing of handmade carpets and recognizing its types

In Nain handmade carpets, the background of the carpet is mostly cream or pea color and in these carpets , usually 11 main colors and 4 sub-colors are used.

The main colors are: Cream or pea, khaki, brown, jujube, indigo, crimson, azure, bold blue, Sky blue, Lucky, Elephant

Sub-colors also include: Jade, Mashi, Green, Messi – Pink

Technical characteristics of the texture of Nain handmade carpets

Nain handmade carpets are woven on  vertical looms with Persian knots and cotton warp and weft.

Also, woolen fleece and silk flowers or usually the use of silk in mixing flowers and stems are common features of Nain handmade carpets. Other characteristics of Nain handmade carpets include the use of attached headband, Persian kilim and attached head.

Valuing carpets and recognizing the delicacy of the texture in the carpets of this region is based on the number of layers and yarns.

The density of Nain handmade carpets is high and often has more than one million knots per square meter and the lint of the carpets is short.

The dimensions of Nain carpets do not follow a certain size and from the smallest size to carpets larger than 1000 meters may be produced in this area, but the most common sizes of Nain hand-woven carpets are 6 and 9 meters, and carpets and rugs are half and half. Sometimes rugs are woven in the shape of an oval and a circle in the Nain region.

Today, many areas such as Ardestan and Biabank and even more remote areas such as Tabas and Qazvin produce and supply carpets following the design and texture of Nain handmade carpets.