Iranian Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza Rahmani on Tuesday appointed Farahnaz Rafe’ as the new director of the National Carpet Center.
Rafe’ replaced Fereshteh Dastpak who held the post since June 2018.
“Given the high status of the Iranian handmade carpet as a cultural and artistic heritage, I expect [you] to do more efforts to maintain and improve its status both in quantity and quality by the means of adopting serious and effective strategies, plans and measures,” the minister instructed Rafe’, IRNA reported.
Persian carpets are sought after internationally for their delicate designs and good quality. A medallion pattern is arguably the most characteristic feature of all types of Persian rugs. However, there is tremendous variation in the shapes and sizes of the medallions as well as the way they are used in various rugs. It’s not wrong to say that no two rugs will have the same medallion layout.
Over 5,397,000 tons of Iranian carpets, worth $424.451 million, were exported to over 70 countries with the U.S. standing on top of the importers list, during the past fiscal year (ended March 20, 2019). Germany, the UK, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Russia, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden and Norway as well as Hungary, Romania, Poland and Ireland are major importers of Iranian carpet.
Tehran times