Persian gabbeh and Village Rugs

The genuine Persian Gabbeh

A Gabbeh is a traditional, rough hand-knotted Persian nomad carpet. Gabbeh Carpets are deep pile and soft and have a high utility value. Typical for a Gabbeh carpet are large areas of color and the use of ethnic seemingly abstract geometric figures. These motifs are inspired by scenes in the nomadic life or go back to mystical knowledge. Despite this old nomadic origin, the figures and solid color combinations appear modern. The Gabbeh is made from goat's and sheep's wool.
Originally the Gabbeh comes from the Lorestan Area, one of the 30 provinces of Iran, located in the southwest on the Zagros Mountains. Today the Gabbeh is still produced in the southwestern province of Fars various nomads that still live there (Ghashgai, Luri, Bakhtiari, Kohki-lu-yeh-va- Boyer Ahmadi, Mamassani, Khamseh, Kermanshah). The Gabbeh rug is used by nomads mainly as a sleeping pad.

The Gabbeh became an art fashion carpet due to its characteristics and the associated high utility value in recent years. But many buyers are not aware that the original source of this type of carpet is in southern Persia. The Gabbeh rug is produced in other countries (eg. as India). True south persian carpets as the Gabbeh, Loribaft, Rizbaft or Kaschkuli are characterized by a higher quality than the cheap productions from India. Unfortunately, these cheap rugs, which also differ in that the base fabric is made of the cheaper cotton instead of wool, often is made by children.
This social problem arises not in Iran!
The Gabbeh and other south persian original Nomad rugs come mainly from the Ghashgai nomads who do not exist in India.