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by Harout Bedrossian
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One of my goals is to expand the
knowledge of Oriental Rugs. To take knowledge from many
different sources and help get it to people. It is a
great thing when other people help. Our friend Harout
Bedrossian from the Persian Gulf knew I was interested in
finding out about the Malakouti family and their workshop
and carpets. Harout was kind enough to put together this
photo essay.
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Picture 1 Mr. Malakouti (the father)
preparing the base, (laying out the warps).
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| Picture 2 Preparing the base.
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| Picture 3 Mr. Malakouti (the father)
inspecting one of the almost finished carpets.
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Picture 4 Mr. & Mrs. Malakouti
inspecting one of their carpets from the back on
the loom (this is an old photo, when Mr.
Malakouti was young).
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| Picture 5 The dye master preparing the
dyes.
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Picture 7 The dye master preparing the
dyes.
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| Picture 8 Working on the new dyed wool.
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Picture 9 Laying out the dyed wool to dry.
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Picture 11 The Malakouti signature in the
carpet in Picture 10
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| Picture 12 Details of the medallion of the
carpet in Picture 10.
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Picture 13 Details of the corner of the
carpet in Picture 10.
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| Picture 14 The back of the carpet
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Picture 15 Majid, one of the Malakouti sons
in their retail shop in Dubai, UAE.
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JBOC Note; What started my search for
the Malakouti
family was correspondence from Len Willis who is very
knowledgeable about Persian Carpets. Here is an excerpt
from what he wrote:
From Len Willis:
I attended the Dubai Shopping Festival Carpet Oasis
almost every day and in the process bought five lovely
pieces. One in particular has pride of place. It's an
exquisite Isfahan. Its
attributes that appealed to me most are:
a) Colour - about twelve shades wonderfully mellowed by
say 15 years exposure to indirect sunlight. (I disagree
with those of us who say that such an affect can be
matched by modern chrome dyes. No way!)
b) Pattern - traditional Isfahan
hallmarks of single medallion and corners with a field of
palmettes, florettes and afshan linked by islimis and
gholab.
c) Weave - Wool with silk
outlines on silk foundation, with close to 800 akpsi. Its
a "Malakouti". That's a small workshop of about
twenty weavers that I know is typical of the workshops of
Isfahan, and am led to think is typical of the workshops
of present-day Iran. Mr. Malakouti Snr. and four of his
five sons were present in Dubai. I've known this family
for five years, and they are honest, with me at least,
because a close, social relationship has developed
between us. I'm getting to what I want to say. Mr.
Malakouti is a designer and has three top weavers who
also instruct his younger generation weavers. These three
at present are allowed to begin a carpet with his
signature. Of course they are guided in placement of
knots from a cartoon, even if they drew it themselves,
but as was pointed out to me in the 2 x 3 mtr. that I
bought, they inovate as they progress. He showed me
places where a double row in different colours of silk
outline of motifs had been placed saying that a single
row only was shown on the cartoon. In another place, how
an extra small gholab had been added to better balance
the positioning of pattern elements in the field. If he
is particularly pleased with the finished article, he
allows the weaver to add an abreviated signature in the
final (top) knotted strip. (Maybe they get a bonus as
well; I don't know) I've studied the pattern of this
piece carefully, and every motif, every element of
pattern, no matter how small, is repeated only once in
the field, and that is at the diametrically opposite
position across the field. Tell me then, do we have
creativity here? Do we have ART?
For Further Reading:
Index to JBOC's
Rug Notes
Thanks and best wishes,
J. Barry O'Connell Jr.
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