Why are handmade Oriental carpets sometimes not straight, or have irregularities in their designs?
The very fact that Oriental carpets are created entirely by hand results in virtually every one displaying certain signs of this human input, in contrast to the soulless perfection of machine-made items. It is in many ways these deviations from a rigid mechanical smyettry which give handmade carpets their unique appeal and collectable value. However there are degrees of variation that may be expected (and usually prized) within the different types of Oriental carpet. In the sophisticated examples crafted in town workshops such as those of Kashan, Tabriz, Isfahan, Qum etc., where the weavers work from a carefully drawn design “cartoon”, the variations integral to the human knotting process are extremely subtle – such as a rosette at one end of the carpet being realised with imaginative variations at the opposing end – and are often intentionally introduced by the master weaver responsible. In general, such workshop carpets may be expected to lie flat, with straight edges, and display ev
