Soccer World Cup & Rugs

World Cup soccer fever is widespread everywhere these days. Even our repair personnel love to watch the games when they repair rugs.

Here, you see a hand knotted Persian Kashmar rug being repaired while the repairman is watching a soccer game on his laptop's screen. What a combination of tradition and technology!

I would like to add a bit if literature on Vase Kashmar rugs. Persian Kashmar Carpets, the Kaase Koozeh design (Bowl & Vase) Rugs from the Iranian town of Kashmar in the Khorassan province in north east Iran are full of myths and symbolism. Not only are they of a high quality, but also eye-catching by their decorative character and designs. These so called “Vase Kashmar rugs” have vases as symbols of abundance which mar refer to spiritual abundance.

Zir Khaki which means "under ground" is another name for this type of vase design Kashmar carpets. It refers to a rug filled from the treasures from the days of the Persian empire’s glory. These rugs are thick and durable. Their foundation is cotton and the pile is lamb’s wool. They are usually made in big and room sizes such as 6’ x 9’, 9’ x 12’ and 10’ x 14’. There are some inscriptions and writings on the vases similar to Kufi designs almost with no meaning. In many of these rugs, you see a diamond shape medallion in the center of the rug.


Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085

Heriz Carpets/Rugs Cleaning

We received a severely damaged hand knotted Persian Heriz rug for cleaning and repair. Here I am posting some information in general on Heriz carpets with few pictures of this particular rug from before and after the cleaning and repair.

Heriz Carpets and Rugs

Heriz rugs are made in the weaving district of Heriz, which is made up of around 30 weaving villages. The names of the villages in this region, which is about 40 miles west of Tabriz, in north west Iran are commonly found as names of different rug styles from the area. Contrary to most carpets, these Persian hand knotted carpets are not named for the town they were created in, but for their level of quality. For example a Heriz carpet is the highest quality floor covering from the region, and then there is the Mehriban, the Gorevan, the Ahar, and the Sharabian rugs amongst many others. The Heriz carpets are all very similar in design, with a common geometric pattern.

Heriz rugs almost always have a large central medallion design and corner spandrels. The rug’s central medallion typically lies on a red field and includes geometric shapes of leaves, flowers and other motives. The rug also features a broad main border pattern that is called a Herati pattern. These floor coverings have been known to be quite large in size, normally 6 x 9 feet being the smallest size.

Heriz rugs are commonly made with a cotton warp that can be either depressed or non-depressed. The weft can have two shoots or even a single weft. The weft is normally made with cotton and is a blue color. The pile is almost always wool and are generally more coarsely woven than traditional Persian carpets. The coarse pile can cause the floor covering to wear more quickly, but a very high quality Heriz will withstand wear for much longer than a lower quality one. There are some antique pre 1900 silk pile Heriz rugs with high count knots, but these pieces are very rare.

Older Heriz rugs are typically made with softer colors, like light blue, khaki, pink, ivory and rust. Newer carpets, which are identified as post-World War II rugs, have much brighter tones like blue, green, red, white and brown. The term Serapi has been known to identify older, pre-World War II Heriz carpets. There is no village named Serapi, but it signifies a very old carpet that is very high in quality. These pieces typically have a depressed warp, the softer tones and large geometric designs. They do stay very true to the typical Heriz pattern, with a large central medallion, corner spandrels and geometric shapes.

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085

Graduation of My Younger Son From Beverly Hills High School

My younger son Kash (Khashaiar) graduated from the Beverly Hills High School this semester. They had their graduation ceremony and walk on Friday June 18, 2010. Around 500 young boys and girls graduated. It was a beautiful ceremony. These new generation youngsters are the leaders of tomorrow.

My son Kash knows what he is going to do. He will study Information Systems Business like Ashkan his older brother. Kash will study at the California State University Northridge CSUN also like his brother. Kash is very much interested in video production and film editing and he has done this while he was in high school. He is a young hardworking dedicated man full of energy. Since he knows what he wants to do, he did not want to go to a two-year college. He wanted to start with a four-year university.

Khosrow Sobhe

Polling Place in My Rug Gallery in Los Angeles

I came to work this morning at 6:00 am. Our rug gallery on 1655 South La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles is a polling place. We have voting in California today. Four people are here from the Office of the Registrar, County of Los Angeles to do the set up and conduct the voting process. An inspector also stopped by to make sure everything is going smoothly. Those who have registered are coming in to cast their ballots.

Today, Tuesday is primary election day in California, and key races are being closely watched, as voters pick the Democratic and Republican nominations for governor and the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. Voter turnout is expected to be light, with only about one-third of voters are expected to cast ballots.

I guess we have to stay open until 10:00 pm today. It is going to be a long day.

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085

Antique Kashan Rug Cleaning

We picked up an antique Persian hand knotted Kashan rug for cleaning and repair. It was a beautiful 7' x 10' prayer design rug with two major damages. This is how it turned out after one of our master weavers did the restoration on this beautiful piece of art.


Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085

American sarouk Rug Cleaning

We picked up this American Sarouk rug from a customer's house. He wanted us to do the professional cleaning which we did. We were supposed to ship the rug to Brentwood, in Tennessee. This message is what we received after this customer received and saw his rug. It is rewarding to receive such comments.




"The rug was delivered today. Thank you very much for the time and attention to detail that you provided me on this matter. If there is an opportunity to utilize your products or services in the future I will think of you first. Best regards, I will recommend you to people I know that are looking for rugs or services." Regards, Kent O.

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com
310-770-9085

Crime Againt Art and Rugs

A customer brought in a very old and antique hand knotted Persian Hamadan runner and wanted us to cut it and shorten it. The length of this beautiful runner was 11' and he wanted us to make it 8' to fit his bedroom. I told him that this was a beautiful piece and we did not mind getting money from the customer to cut and fix it but we did not recommend doing it. He said he would not mind and wanted us to do the alteration. We did this heartbreaking crime and you can see the outcome. I told this gentleman that we would repair and secure the ends of the smaller piece for him and he said he did not care and did not want that piece. Anyway, we secured the ends and fringes of the smaller piece and gave it back to the customer with the bigger cut runner which turned out fine.

The customer was happy with the job. Technically, we were happy too, but we were professionally and emotionally disturbed!!

Dr. Khosrow Sobhe (Dr. Kay)
Certified Rug Specialist (CRS)
310-770-9085
www.LosAngelesRugCleaning.com