In Iran, Persian Persian carpets, an ancestral knowledge, whose delicacy has contributed to the cultural influence of the country, struggles for its survival, weakened by sanctions and the economic crisis that diverts buyers.
The carpets have been for a long time for Iran, an export product that excludes key oil, generating more than two billion dollars in revenue at its peak in the early 1990s.
But the sector is fighting today to exceed $ 40 million because it has never recovered from the return of US sanctions in 2018, which cut it from the US market, its main exit.
United States, the first import country of Iranian carpets
The United States “represented more than 70% of (exports of) Persian carpets,” according to Zahra Kamani, director of the National Carpet Center, a government agency, interviewed by state television. Last year, Iranian carpets still found makers in 55 countries, including Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Japan and China.
But now they are competed for low -Aging imitations of India, China, Nepal and Pakistan. Much more competitive, they have even invaded Iran and represent a direct threat to two million Iranians living in carpets, according to Zahra Kamani, mostly women and some for the equivalent of a few dollars a day.
Western tourists, who previously brought from Iran’s carpets as memories, were reduced as sad skin due to the increase in geopolitical tensions. International economic difficulties and abyssal depreciation in Iran of the national currency in Iran, which promotes hyperinflation, artisanal tapestries are inaccessible.
Carpets that have become too expensive
Iranian officials ensure that a resurgence of the sector is possible to preserve knowledge that dates back to Persia in the Bronze Age. “Thanks to the recently signed agreements, we are trying to promote and facilitate exports for Iranian merchants,” said Commerce Minister Mohammad Atabak, cited by the IRNA Government News Agency in June.
“I always wanted carpets headed by hand to my dowry,” says Shima, a 31 -year -old secretary who lives Tehran. “My family had promised me” as the tradition in Iran wants during a marriage. “But we can’t pay it,” laments the young woman who will pass the ring to the finger in a few weeks.
“So we turn to the carpets made in the factory”, less expensive but of incomparable quality to the carpets woven with patience by the artisans. In Iran, tradition says that “the bride provides the carpets of origin”, but “the most modest families sometimes stop buying them,” says Shima, who prefers to silence her last name.
Artisanal carpets should be reinvented, without a doubt, it estimates that the seller Hamed Nabizadeh, who recommends “not to limit himself to traditional patterns, shapes and materials to remain competitive and more adhere to” trends. ” The carpets must adapt to the times, adds to Hamed Nabizadeh, recommending “develop a strong brand” and “attract customers thanks to social networks.”
Source: BFM TV
