Hamedan Rugs

What they share is construction. Hamedan weaving is mostly single-wefted, worked in robust local wool, and built to be used. These are not delicate carpets. They were made for daily family use, and they have survived it.

The city is the market town for hundreds of surrounding villages, so the name covers a wide family rather than a single look. What the pieces share is construction: a single weft between rows of knots, a cotton foundation and a sturdy wool pile that was made to be walked on.

Designs are mostly geometric, with lozenge medallions, repeating botehs and stepped borders drawn in madder red, deep blue and ivory. Village weavers worked from memory rather than a cartoon, so small irregularities in the drawing are normal and part of the character.

Hamedan is the largest Persian group we carry, and the runner format is especially common: long, narrow pieces woven for the corridors of village houses that now suit hallways, kitchens and stairs. Prices are moderate for hand-knotted Persian work, which makes Hamedan a practical first Persian rug.

What a Hamedan usually looks like

• Drawing: honest geometry; hooked medallions, stepped diamonds, repeating botteh and stepped borders.
• Color: deep red and burgundy grounds on most of ours, with ivory, navy and soft green in the drawing.
• Construction: single-wefted, wool on cotton, firm and hard-wearing.
• Sizes: exceptional for runners and small mats; the region produced both in quantity.

Rugs for a working house

Hamedan is the practical choice. A Hamedan runner in a hallway or a kitchen will take years of daily traffic and look better for it. The geometry hides the reality of a working house, and the wool is dense enough that footfall compacts rather than wears it.

In a living room, a Hamedan brings warmth and pattern without the formality of a city carpet. It suits rooms that are lived in hard: family rooms, dens, studies, anywhere a precious rug would make you anxious.

Village character, not workshop polish

Expect some asymmetry. A border that adjusts as it turns a corner, a medallion sitting a little off center, a color that shifts partway up the field where a new batch of dyed wool came into use. In village weaving these are not faults; they are the record of a person working without a printed cartoon, and they are much of what collectors look for.

Common Hamedan questions

Why is a color band running across my rug?

That is abrash, and it happens when the weaver moved from one dye lot to the next. It is a hallmark of genuine village weaving and is generally considered desirable rather than a flaw.

Are Hamedan rugs lower quality than Tabriz or Kashan?

They are different, not lesser. City carpets buy you fineness of drawing; village carpets buy you durability and character. For a hallway or a family room, a Hamedan is very often the better rug for the job.

Before you pick one

Size and shape first, since this is the strongest source of good vintage runners you will find. Then look at the ground color and how strongly the geometry reads. Whichever Hamedan you choose, nobody else will own its twin.

Where they come from, how to recognize the single-weft knot, and why they suit busy rooms: the Hamedan guide.

Malayer sits between Hamedan and Arak and borrows from both: Malayer rugs.