TEHRAN, Iran This capital citys vast bazaar is home to, by most estimates, the highest concentration of handmade rugs in the world, with millions of the floor coverings piled high in more than a thousand shops in a labyrinth of ancient passageways.Irans rug exports, however, are declining revenue was down 17 percent last year as are the number of people employed in the industry. Many people associated with the trade believe its survival is threatened.
The centuries-old industry has been hit hard by repeated economic crises in recent years, as well as by sanctions imposed by the United States, formerly the biggest market for Persian carpets. Even in Iran, cheaper, machine-made rugs are starting to outsell handmade ones.
The industrys decline is just one more problem that Hassan Rouhani will have to contend with when he takes office as the Islamic republics president early next month.
Iranian carpet experts are calling on the government to boost the image of the hand-woven rugs in countries other than the United States.
We expect the new government to assign enough of a budget for our promotional campaigns to better introduce Irans rugs internationally, said Mojtaba Feyzollahi, marketing deputy of the Iran National Carpet Center.
Ali-Reza Ghaderi, founder and director of the Tehran-based Persian carpet Think Tank, agreed that officials should concentrate on promoting exports.
The problem is not production but marketing and selling, Ghaderi said.
Big part of economy
After energy products, handmade rugs are Irans most important export, accounting for $560 million last year, which amounts to about 20 percent of the global handmade-rug market.
But not all Iran analysts think the government should support the ancient craft.
I dont think this is an industry that the country needs to protect, as it does not produce good jobs that young people should be seeking, said Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an economics professor at Virginia Tech who visits Iran regularly.
But the industry employs an estimated 2 million Iranians; about 10 percent of the population benefits economically from some aspect of the rug business, according to the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Trade. That makes its preservation essential, at least for now.
In addition to merchants, the industry generates jobs for repairmen and the deliverymen who scurry around the bazaar with rusty hand carts brimming with inventory.
In Tehran and across Iran, however, the number of people in the industry is decreasing, according to carpet experts.
The rug bazaar is being eaten by the clothing bazaar, which borders us, said Hossein Hosseiny, a third-generation rug merchant, navigating through crowds of people pawing through stacks of garments in the shops that are taking over much of the old bazaar.
Trading in Chinese- and Turkish-made clothes is more lucrative than selling Persian rugs, so clothing importers are willing to pay exorbitant rents more than $2,000 per month for stalls measuring less than 100 square feet in some highly trafficked areas of the bazaar.
Although many of his fellow merchants are abandoning the rug trade, Hosseiny says he has no intention of quitting. He, like many other Iranians, considers carpets a vital part of the countrys heritage.
In this tough economy, some consider switching to a more profitable business, but then what will happen to art and those jobs which are rooted in our tradition? Hosseiny, 31, said. I try not to lose my hope. I have to think about not only helping myself, but also my country and the art of rugmaking, with hope for the future.
Like many in the business, Hosseiny was exposed to the craft at an early age, spending hours in his fathers shop, developing an extensive knowledge of rugs produced in various parts of Iran. At 18, he embarked on three years of travel throughout the country to learn what he did not know.
His knowledge of the types of carpets has become an important advantage, as most rug traders here deal in merchandise from particular regions, usually where they have familial ties.
Many of them are being forced out of business because their inventory is limited, including only a small number of styles and colors. Irans rug exporters have difficulty competing with the variety of styles produced by rug industries in other countries.
Sanctions on Iran also are having a deep effect on the business.
Banking sanctions and a 2010 embargo on Iranian rugs by the U.S. government are impeding merchants ability to sell goods abroad and transfer the proceeds home.
This is bad not only for the rug business, Hosseiny said, but also for Irans image.
Rugs can be a great ambassador for this country, he said. When someone buys a rug and takes it home to their country, other people see its beauty and hear its story, and it gets them interested in Iran.
The industry, which has changed little since Hossainys grandfather started his business half a century ago, also suffers from the rising cost of labor and the difficulty in importing materials, such as silk, and some dyes. Producers hope the government will give them assistance in marketing and access to better health insurance for weavers, who can suffer joint and back injuries, among other problems.
We have to care for our industry like a farmer grows a tree, ensuring that in the future we can continue to pick its fruit, Hosseiny said.
Carpet experts and economists say Irans rug production might ultimately return to being what it was when it started: a specialized art form.
Eventually, as a handicraft, it must go upscale and produce carpets for high-income people. In that phase, it will be employing very few people and will not be part of the national industries to protect, Salehi-Isfahani said.
ByThe Seattle Times
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