Persian rugs — every great workshop, every tradition.
Persian rugs have been hand-knotted in Iran for more than a thousand years. Workshop pieces from cities like Tabriz, Kashan, and Isfahan; village pieces from Heriz, Bijar, and Malayer; silk Persians from Qum. Each tradition has its own knot density, its own dye chemistry, its own design vocabulary. This knowledge guide covers the nine great Persian weaving workshops — what makes each tradition distinct, how to identify them, and how the Cohen atelier hand-washes and restores them.
What is a Persian rug?
A Persian rug is a hand-knotted carpet woven in Iran (historically Persia), using the asymmetric Persian knot tied around a cotton, wool, or silk foundation. Persian rugs are produced in two parallel traditions: workshop weaving in cities like Tabriz, Kashan, Isfahan, and Kerman, where finely drawn medallion and vine compositions are knotted at 200 to more than 1,000 per square inch; and village weaving in places like Heriz, Bijar, and Malayer, where coarser knots, bolder geometry, and harder-wearing wool produce rugs built for daily life.
The hand-knotting tradition traces directly to the Safavid imperial workshops of the 16th and 17th centuries. Every great Persian rug since has carried that lineage forward by hand.
The 9 great Persian workshops.
Each tradition has its own knot density, its own dye chemistry, its own hand. Click any name to read its full atelier guide.
Tabriz
Workshop rugs from northwest Iran. Technical precision, central-medallion drawing, exceptional knot count.
Read the Tabriz guideKashan
Classic medallion design. Harmonious palette of deep reds, navy, and ivory. 100 to 800 knots per square inch.
Read the Kashan guideHeriz
Bold village weaving. Oversized geometric medallion, earthy reds and rust, exceptionally durable mountain wool.
Read the Heriz guideIsfahan
Court-style atelier weaving. Fine wool on a silk foundation, up to 1,000 knots per square inch.
Read the Isfahan guideQum
Silk Persians. Sometimes more than 1,000 knots per square inch. Calligraphic, garden, and prayer designs.
Read the Qum guideBijar
Known as the iron rug of Persia. Exceptionally heavy, dense foundation, restrained geometric drawing.
Read the Bijar guideSarouk
Fine pile, jewel-tone palette. American-market floral spray on burgundy and navy grounds.
Read the Sarouk guideNain
Fine wool with silk highlights on an ivory ground. Delicate floral drawing, restrained palette.
Read the Nain guideKerman
Soft palette, finely detailed drawing. Roses, palmettes, and panel designs in pastel tones.
Read the Kerman guideHistory at a glance.
The Safavid dynasty (1501–1736) is the first golden age of Persian weaving. Royal workshops in Tabriz, Kashan, Isfahan, Kerman, and Herat produced silk-on-silk court carpets, hunting scenes, and garden compositions for the Shah and for European royal courts. The great Ardabil Carpet and the Polonaise carpets date from this period — technically and artistically among the finest carpets ever woven.
After a decline through the 18th century, Persian weaving revived in the late 19th century under European and American demand. Tabriz workshops re-trained the craft; Sarouk, Kashan, and Heriz villages scaled production for export. This period (roughly 1875–1925) produced the antique Persians most often seen in American collections today.
The 20th century brought further industrialization, then sanctions and disruption. The finest hand-knotted Persian weaving continues today in Tabriz, Qum, Nain, and Isfahan — though the great antique pieces are no longer being produced at the level they once were. Collectors prize the 19th-century work for that reason.
How Persian rugs are constructed.
A Persian rug is built knot by knot on a vertical loom. The warp threads run top to bottom; the weft passes side to side; the pile is formed by tying individual asymmetric Persian knots around adjacent warp pairs. A 9-by-12 workshop Tabriz at 400 knots per square inch is roughly 2 million knots, each tied by hand.
Wool is hand-spun from mountain sheep, dyed with vegetable matter — madder root for red, indigo for blue, walnut hull for brown, pomegranate skin for yellow — then washed, sun-bleached, and woven. The result is a rug that softens with age, deepens in color, and lasts for centuries.
Caring for a Persian rug.
Persian rugs are hand-knotted from wool, cotton, and silk — fibers that machines cannot read. A rotary brush will felt the pile, lift vegetable dyes, and split the warp threads that hold the rug together. The only appropriate cleaning method is hand-washing by master artisans, with water temperature, soap pH, and contact time calibrated to the specific rug. The Cohen atelier hand-washes every Persian individually on a dedicated floor, dye-tested before water touches the rug, dried flat on slatted frames. See our Persian rug cleaning service for the full process.
The other great weaving traditions.
Persian is the most famous, but not the only. The Cohen atelier hand-washes every great tradition.
Turkish Rugs
Anatolian weaving — Hereke silk, Oushak, Konya, Kayseri. Symmetric Turkish knot.
French Rugs
Aubusson and Savonnerie. Court-style flatweave and pile weaving from the French royal manufactories.
Specialty Silk
Hereke, Qum, and Kashmir silk. Filaments microns thick, more than 1,000 knots per square inch.
Letters from across the Northeast.
A few of the rugs we've cared for — and the families who trusted us with them.
“They returned an heirloom Tabriz — the colors look exactly as my grandmother described them.”
“A 1920s Heriz I thought was beyond saving came back better than the day my parents bought it.”
“Our clients trust us with eight-figure homes. Horizon is the only atelier I send their rugs to.”
More from Horizon.
Other ateliers, every service we offer, and the rest of our story — a few directions to explore.
Bring us your Persian rug.
Whichever workshop your rug came from — Tabriz, Kashan, Heriz, Isfahan, Qum, Bijar, Sarouk, Nain, or Kerman — we hand-wash with the process appropriate to its construction. Complimentary pickup from Manhattan, the Hamptons, Westchester, Greenwich, and Stamford.
By hand · By the Cohen family · By appointment