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

Ashkan Sobhe My Older Son Graduated Today From CSUN

My older son Ashkan graduated today from CSUN (California State University Northridge) here in Los Angeles. He received his bachelor of Science in Information Technology & Information Systems. For a father and mother, this is one of the most beautiful moments of all time to attend the graduation of their kid!

Ashkan is only 23. He established his own company in 2007. He has It Chair, Inc. Ashkan and his team of young energetic experts do Search Engine Optimization and web designing. He has written a book in his field of work. He is very good at what he does.

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

Rug Moth Damage

A Customer brought in a rug for cleaning and repair. This rug ended up in the trash can due to severe moth damage it had. It was left in storage for five years without being professionally cleaned and properly wrapped.

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

Oriental Carpets: An Introduction Course at UCLA

On Saturday May 8th, I participated in the Oriental Carpets: An Introduction Course at UCLA Extension. It was for half a day starting at 9:30 am. I loved every moment of this class. Chris Fager was the instructor. The handout was well prepared with a fine resource list followed by a very useful rug glossary.

The last section of the class was a rug tour. There were many samples of the rugs on the floor and on the walls from around the world. The students could have ideas of the rugs Chris Fager talked about. Chris is a very knowledgeable and humble man. He has taught this course for nine years at UCLA Extension. He holds a B.A. from Colgate University; and JD, Boston University. Chris Fager is an oriental carpet collector, scholar, and author. A world traveler, he has purchased rugs in Europe and Asia. Chris Fager and has written about the rug world for the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Times Magazine and the international rug journal Hali.

It would be good if UCLA Extension could have rug courses at different levels such as introductory, intermediate and advanced courses in which students could participate and would have more time for in depth discussion.

Anyway, I enjoyed this course a lot and found it very useful.

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