Setting
Shiraz sits in a fertile valley at about 1,500 m, ringed by mountains. The Vakil bazaar and the adjoining caravanserais form the historic commercial core.
Why this place matters for craft
Shiraz is best understood as a market rather than a single workshop tradition: Qashqai and Khamseh weavings, Fars gabbeh and kilim reach the city from a wide hinterland. Tribal attributions given in shops are broad and frequently approximate.
Quarters, bazaars and workshops
| Area | What is there |
|---|---|
| Vakil bazaar | Long vaulted market; rug and textile dealers concentrated in particular aisles. |
| Saray-e Moshir | Restored courtyard caravanserai with craft retail rooms. |
What to look for on an object
- Gabbeh — Thick, long pile and a loose, bold design; count knots on the back — they are far coarser than a city carpet.
- Felt (namad) — No weave structure at all when the edge is examined; the surface is matted fibre.
These notes are for learning to look, not for authentication. No description here certifies an object, its age or its origin.
Practical notes
- Tribal weavings are often described by group name; ask instead where and when the piece was collected.
- Saray-e Moshir is tourist-facing; bazaar aisles carry more working stock.
- Workshop addresses, bazaar hours and market days change; confirm locally before travelling.
Season: Spring, when the surrounding plains are green, and autumn.
Used in these crafts
A thick, coarsely knotted pile rug woven mainly by pastoral and village weavers of the Zagros, with open fields, few motifs and a directly personal design language.
A flat, pileless woven textile made across Iran by interlocking or slit-weaving coloured weft threads over a warp, used as floor covering, storage bag, saddle cover and tent divider depending on region.
A narrow-strip flatwoven textile, usually made in warp-faced bands on a portable loom and then sewn together into a wider cloth, traditionally used as bedding cover, floor spread or door hanging by village and pastoral households.
A Persian inlay art in which fine rods of wood, bone and metal are bundled into star units, sliced into thin sheets and applied to a wooden surface to form dense geometric tessellation.
The Iranian tradition of decorating copper, brass and silver vessels with small chisels struck by hammer, working the metal into line, ground and relief.
A non-woven wool textile made by matting and pressing raw wool fibres with moisture, heat and friction rather than by weaving, traditionally produced across Iran for floor coverings, cloaks and protective mats.
A hand-knotted pile textile woven across Iran in city workshops, village looms and pastoral camps, distinguished by regional structure, palette and design vocabulary.