Borujerd Rugs
Borujerd is in Lorestan, western Iran, a region of mountain villages with a long weaving tradition. The rugs are village work rather than workshop work, and they look it in the best way.
Drawing is confident and slightly irregular, with medallions that rarely repeat exactly. Area rugs and runners make up most of what we have. Every piece is vintage and one of a kind.
Borujerd: mountain village weaving from Lorestan
Borujerd sits in Lorestan in western Iran, in the Zagros foothills. This is village weaving rather than workshop production: rugs made in houses, on simple looms, by weavers working from a design held in memory rather than drawn on paper.
The results are confident and slightly irregular, which is the appeal. A Borujerd medallion is rarely perfectly centered and the border often adjusts as it turns a corner, because a person was solving the problem as they went.
What a Borujerd usually looks like
- Drawing: stepped medallions, hooked forms and repeating boteh, all geometric.
- Color: madder red, indigo and camel, with ivory used to outline rather than to fill.
- Construction: wool on cotton, medium weight, firm village handle.
- Sizes: mostly area rugs and runners in this collection.
Where they earn their keep
Borujerd rugs suit rooms that are lived in without ceremony. The geometry hides the reality of a working house, and the wool is dense enough that footfall compacts the pile rather than wearing it away.
They also work well in rooms that already have a lot going on, because the drawing is strong but the palette is narrow.
Reading the irregularities
Expect abrash, the horizontal color banding that appears where the weaver moved from one dye lot to the next. Expect a field that is slightly wider at one end. In village weaving these are not faults but the record of the making, and they are much of what people collect.
Borujerd rug questions, answered
Is Borujerd the same as Lori?
They come from the same region and the drawing overlaps, but Borujerd is a town and Lori refers to the Lur people. A Borujerd is village weaving; a Lori is tribal weaving.
Why is my rug not perfectly rectangular?
Village looms are not precision instruments and the tension changes as work proceeds. A small variation in width is normal and is not a defect.
Are they suitable for a dining room?
Yes, particularly the area sizes. The dense pile takes chair legs well.
Choosing your Borujerd
Pick on ground color and on how strongly the geometry reads from a distance. Every piece here is vintage and one of a kind.