Persian Carpet Gabbeh / Persian carpet Gabbeh

Gaba, gabeh (gava in Kurdish and the Lori dialect, kershak in the Bakhtiari dialect) is a knotted wool rug recognized by its longer pile than is typical for Persian rugs. It is also characterized by a simple design, usually using only a few colors, shapes, and ornaments, sometimes also stylized figures of people or animals. Such rugs are made by the Lori, Kurds, and Qashqai in the Zagros mountain range, which stretches across much of Iran. These rugs are believed to originate in the Lorestān region, from where their use and production spread north to Kurdish territories and south to the Qashqai.

The mountainous region in western Iran is the homeland of the Lori and Bakhtiari, proud peoples whose members are descendants of the original settlers of present-day Iran. For millennia, the Lori have been making rugs in an authentic, unchanged way. The weaving technique and traditional patterns are passed down from generation to generation, but the final look depends most on the maker’s personal touch. Mothers teach daughters how to spin and use wool, while fathers pass on to sons the knowledge of shearing wool and making looms. The motifs they depict are drawn from their surroundings, local tradition, and their lives. Thus, in these rugs you can find everything from stars to archaic Mesopotamian forms.

Traditional gabbeh rugs are loosely knotted (a low knot density per square centimeter or meter), but therefore have quite a long pile (approx. 3–4 cm) and many weft threads (crosswise threads in the foundation) between the rows of knots, which is not typical of other rugs today. The only exception are old gabbeji ye širi with a lion motif, made by the Darrašuri tribe. The colors of gabbeh rugs are usually of plant origin, but they also use undyed wool (širi – cream, šotori – light brown, siah – black).

In such a thick wool rug, a woman who made it before the journey can wrap a mašk (a goatskin water flask), a folding loom, a cradle, precious fur, or other items. Thanks to its softness, a gabbeh is also very useful as a saddle substitute and for sleeping.