The Craft
How an Arsin Rug Is Made
From a pattern colored point by point in the Tehran studio to a knot tied in the villages of Iran — this is the journey of an Arsin rug, step by step.
The Tehran studio
Design & Plotting
Before it ever reaches a loom, every Arsin rug is born on graph paper. In the Tehran studio, designers plot the pattern square by square, color by color — each cell a knot yet to be tied.
Some patterns are readings of the past — Sultanabad, Bijar, Heris, Qashqai and Farahan revivals — re-plotted with the same discipline so an old inheritance can speak in a modern hand.
Fiber
Hand-spun Wool
Long before it reaches the loom, the wool is combed and spun entirely by hand. Hand-spun fiber has an uneven, porous surface that machine yarn lacks — it takes dye differently, and over the years it gains a depth of color no other rug can claim.
The warp is cotton; in some of the studio's contemporary designs, threads of bamboo silk run through the wool — a quiet sheen inside a sober pile.
The dye vats
Vegetal Dyeing
The dye vats are a small laboratory of nature: madder root gives red, indigo blue, weld yellow, walnut husk brown. Each skein takes its own particular shade, depending on how long it sits in the pot.
This is where abrash is born — the gentle, natural shift in tone between skeins dyed in the same color. Abrash is not a flaw; it is the signature of vegetal dye and a mark of a genuinely handmade rug.
The villages of Iran
Weaving
From here the rug travels to the villages of Iran, where the real work of the loom begins — knot after knot, for months, in the hands of weavers who learned this craft across generations. Raj, the density of these knots per unit of the rug, is the simplest measure of its fineness: the higher the raj, the finer the weave.
For custom orders, progress photos are sent straight from the loom throughout these months — a rare chance to watch a rug become itself before it is finished.
The final hand
Washing & Finishing
A finished rug is not yet ready for the gallery. First it is washed, to settle the colors and soften the pile; then comes finishing — precise shearing and stretching the rug on a frame to set its final form.
In the last step, every rug passes under the close eye of quality control — from the straightness of its corners to the evenness of its color. Only a rug that clears this stage makes its way to the gallery floor.
Journey's end
The Rug Reaches the Gallery
Here, the rug's journey ends — and its story begins again in your home. Every Arsin rug that reaches the gallery is the result of months of design, dyeing, weaving and finishing, ready to become part of a room.
Choose from the rugs already in the gallery, or commission one entirely your own — your size, your palette, your design.