Kilims (Persian: gelīm) are flat tapestry-woven carpets or rugs produced from the Balkans to Pakistan. Kilims can be purely decorative or can function as prayer rugs.
Recently-made kilims are popular floor-coverings in Western households.
Kilims are produced by tightly interweaving the warp and weft strands of the weave to produce a flat surface with no pile. Kilim weaves are tapestry weaves, technically weft-faced plain weaves, that is, the horizontal weft strands are pulled tightly downward so that they hide the vertical warp strands.
Ardabil rugs feature motifs that are very similar to Caucasian rugs, but with more motifs and objects woven into the borders. The colors are also lighter.
The patterns are predominantly geometric and the most common layouts on
Ardabil rugs are medallions, multiple connected diamond-shaped medallions, and all-over octagonal shapes.
The most recognized design found on
Ardabil rugs is the famous Mahi (Herati) design - a diamond medallion and small fish throughout. Some modern weavers have begun to favor bold geometric patterns over the traditional
...see more Mahi (Herati) design and have added colors such as turquoise and purple to the more traditional red, pink, ivory, green, and blue.
Varni Kilims
Varni, a flat weave and Kilim (gilim), a kind of rug and floor covering without pile and very decorative which is produced in the province of Ardabil is famous in the world.
The designs are based on the motives of the surrounding environment mostly birds and animals depicted from the top of the head of the talented weavers of the region, all of whom are patient ladies who learn to weave varni from their mothers.
Many of the varnies are made with silk. They are completely made of natural silk or partly silk, so called “Kaf Abrisham”, meaning with silk background.
The designs are divided into frames and small cubes (squares) or rectangles in which the motives of the birds and animals are woven. Based on a report put out by the Iran Handicrafts Organization, Ardabil Branch, there are 2,500 workshops in the province with 2,000 weavers along with 13,000 independent weavers which work in their homes and make 20,000 square meters (more than 210,000 square feet) of varni per year.
Reference : wikipedia.org - rugidea.com