New Teheran | 306 x 200 cm | Nr. Z-2187

New Teheran, terracotta

Origin	India
Dimensions	306 cm x 200 cm (= 6.12 m²)
Construction	hand-knotted
Material	Pile: wool (hand-spun, natural dyes) & viscose Weft & Warp: cotton
knots per m²2	200.000
Pile height	9mm
Year of manufacture	2023
Colour	Terracotta, Light grey
Edition	one-of-a-kind piece

Origin

Contemporary aesthetics meet Oriental tradition – for this New Teheran rug we drew our inspiration from the traditional patterns of Persian Sarough rugs.

Sarough is one of Iran's best-known rug-knotting regions. Saroughs are famous for their floral Sultanabad designs. The delicate tendrils seem to branch out almost endlessly and are held in check only by the surrounding border.

We have reworked the traditional pattern templates and, above all, arranged the colours in a completely new way. The result is a fusion of traditional Oriental rug design and modern European aesthetics. With our New Teheran rugs we set out to meet the trends of European interior design, playing freely with the conventions of traditional rug knotting.

Pattern

Individual areas of the pattern have a higher pile than the rest of this rug. The patterns of modern rugs are tending to become plainer and more abstract. Playing with different pile heights is a new approach, and it has replaced more elaborate, more insistent patterns. Because parts of the pattern have been brought out in two dimensions, though, the rug never looks dull. The accentuation is out of the ordinary and has a truly distinctive effect.

The pattern, inspired by classic Oriental ornamentation, gives the impression that this hand-knotted rug already has a long history behind it. It looks as though it were washed out or faded, which makes it appear almost abstract. In reality, of course, this New Teheran is new and belongs to the youngest generation of contemporary rug designs. It builds a bridge between modern designs and interiors and classic Oriental motifs. The pattern is restrained and yet clearly present.

The background of this New Teheran is light grey. The overall impression is also dominated by terracotta and light grey.

Material

The pile of this New Teheran is made from a hard-wearing blend of hand-spun wool and viscose.

Viscose – also known as acetate silk or rayon – is always made from cellulose, a natural product, and therefore from wood as its raw material. In India, the cellulose pulp is obtained from bamboo. In an elaborate process, the pulpy cellulose is drawn out into one continuous textile yarn. That is why viscose is also referred to as a continuous filament yarn. Because of the silky sheen of the yarn, viscose made from bamboo is also called "bamboo silk". The colloquial term "artificial silk" is not permitted under the German Textile Labelling Act (TKG).

The technique used to prepare the wool for the pile of this New Teheran is over 200 years old. The wool was dyed with natural dyes and spun by hand. Dyeing with natural or plant dyes is more complicated, more expensive and more time-consuming than dyeing with chemical colours. For a luminous red, for instance, you need around one kilo of ground madder root as dyestuff per kilo of wool. For a strong yellow that isn't too pale, it even takes two kilos of weld per kilo of wool. Spinning the wool is just as time-consuming and labour-intensive. What is more, fewer and fewer people still master the art of spinning wool by hand.

But the effort is worth it: dyeing with natural colours allows the high-quality wool to keep its natural oil content. Wool that has been dyed with natural colours and spun by hand creates fascinating, shimmering patterns. The charm of hand-spun wool, with its slight irregularities and natural shades, comes into its own as a contrast in modern interiors, but equally in rooms furnished in a more traditional or country style.

The weft and warp threads of this New Teheran are made of cotton. This versatile material is tear-resistant and elastic, which makes it especially suited to a hard-wearing foundation.