Persian carpets and other “rugs of the East” are firmly established as elegant design elements — subtle and often-unheralded — that loudly whisper refinement and good taste. Historically, many of us ...

In Persia, especially, the artistry of the carpet developed so much that, today, a dizzying variety of distinctive patterns and styles is linked to at least 40 rug-making Iranian cities or villages.

Oriental rugs date back more than 3,000 years. The oldest surviving rug dates back nearly 2,500 years, the Pazrik rug was discovered in the 1940s in Siberia. It was the custom of the day to bury a ...

Persian carpets and other "rugs of the East" are firmly established as elegant design elements — subtle and often-unheralded — that loudly whisper refinement and good taste. Historically, many of us ...

The earthy smell of silk and wool fills a showroom piled waist-high with thousands of hand-woven rugs, some of them centuries old. It is a familiar scent, one that links this Westwood shop to Tehran’s ...

Saeid Maralan once traded a Persian rug for an S-Class Mercedes. “Seven years later, the car was worth $14,000,” he said. “The owner of the rug is now asking $250,000 for it.” Maralan speaks lightly ...