Bidjar Bijar Persian Rugs

Bidjar — the densest weave in Persia

Bidjar (also spelled Bijar) is a Kurdish town in north-west Iran, and its rugs are unlike anything else in the country. The weavers insert the weft while it is still damp and beat it down with a heavy metal comb, row after row. As it dries the yarn contracts and locks: the result is a rug of uncommon density and weight — which is why the trade has called them the iron rugs of Persia for over a century.

What that buys you is resistance to wear. A Bidjar takes daily traffic in a way a finely knotted city rug does not, and antique pieces walked on for a hundred years still carry pile. This is the rug for the hallway, the dining room and the room the dogs run through.

The two designs to know

• Mahi (Herati) — the small lattice of rosettes framed by curved leaves, read in Persia as fish around a pool. Drawn geometrically in Bidjar rather than with the flowing line of a city workshop, usually on indigo or madder.
• Gol Farang — literally the “foreign flower”: naturalistic rose bouquets, taken from European textiles in the nineteenth century and absorbed into Kurdish weaving. The rose Bidjar is softer and lighter in character than the Mahi, often on ivory or beige.

Halwai Bidjars are the finest group, more tightly woven and in better wool than standard production, and Sherkat Farsh denotes the state-supervised workshop weaving of the twentieth century.

Living with a Bidjar — an honest note

The handle is firm rather than soft. A Bidjar is solid and slightly hard underfoot, which is what makes it right for a hallway and wrong for a room where you want to sit on the floor — for that, look at Berbers or a Tibetan weave instead.

On antique pieces the usual marks of age apply: lower pile in the walking lines, ends reduced or restored, occasionally old repairs. Buying one keeps a carpet that is already a century old in circulation instead of replacing it with something new — and every piece is described individually, so you know what you are getting.

At a glance

• Origin: Bidjar, Kurdistan province, north-west Iran
• Construction: damp weft beaten down with a metal comb; exceptional density
• Knot: symmetric Turkish knot
• Pile: Kurdish highland wool
• Foundation: wool warp and weft in antique pieces, cotton in later production
• Designs: Mahi (Herati), Gol Farang roses, medallion compositions
• Sizes: small accent pieces through to palace formats above 500 × 300 cm
• Underfloor heating: suitable
• Label STEP Fair Trade: fair wages, no child labour, monitored working conditions
• Documentation: written assessment of origin, material and knot count with every rug

Care

Vacuum in the direction of the pile; a Bidjar takes normal suction better than most rugs, but keep the rotating brush bar off the fringes. Turn the rug end for end once a year. Blot spills rather than rubbing. Washing, repair and restoration we do ourselves. Customers in Germany can use our rug washing, repair and restoration workshop in Würzburg, including collection and return in the region; elsewhere we are glad to help you find a specialist nearby.

Related collections

Persian rugs overview · Heriz · Sarouk · Bakhtiari · Palatial carpets · Runners