Dubai carpet sellers tell rich stories – in pictures
Dubai carpet sellers tell hundreds of years of history in their products. All photos: Pawan Singh / The National
This 18th-century handmade Persian horse saddle blanket at Heritage Carpet is priced $200,000.
This 150-year-old handmade antique carpet with a mystical human evolution motif, made in Tabriz, Iran, costs $600,000.
A handmade antique carpet believed to be 130 years old, with four royal peacock designs with central pine tree, made in Tehran. The carpet is priced at $500,000.
Heritage Carpet, run by the Ghanbarinia family, first started selling carpets in 1841.
A 120-year-old handmade Persian carpet with passengers and servers under a tree of birds is $280,000.
A $150,000 antique carpet depicting Persian king Nader Shah.
Another antique carpet believed to be 110 years old, showing 7th-century Persian poet Hafez. It is priced at $250,000.
Amir Ghanbarinia, managing director at Heritage Carpet, says the UAE's royal families are some of their biggest customers.
This rare, 180-year-old Persian carpet showing the Tree of Life is priced at $450,000.
An 18th-century handmade carpet of silk and wool featuring flowers, animals and Persian calligraphy. It is priced at $1 million.
Kani Home has expanded as a lifestyle store, selling everything from shawls to clothing and handcrafts from Kashmir.
An Iranian machine-made silk hunting design carpet priced at Dh1,950 at Kani Home.
Technology has helped bring the costs of carpets down and made them more accessible, says Kani Home's Shadab Mir.
An Iranian machine-made box design carpet priced at Dh4,700 at Kani Home.
A design from Kashan in Iran, featuring hand-knotted silk on silk threads with birds as a decorative motif. It costs Dh55,000.
A handmade silk-on-silk Kashan design carpet priced at Dh43,000.
Irfan Jan, a sales executive at Kani Home, with a Persian carpet.
An Iranian machine-made silk Tree of Life design carpet priced at Dh4,980.
Dh13,020 will get you this handmade silk-on-silk carpet from Kani Home.
Technology has evolved with machines now able to replicate traditional carpet-making techniques, which helps to reduce costs, says Kani Home's Shahdab Mir.
