Carpet

Woven - The carpet is produced on a loom quite similar to woven fabric.Needle felt -These carpets are more technologically advanced. Needle felts are produced by intermingling and felting individual synthetic fibers using barbed and forked needles forming an extremely durable carpet.Knotted - On a knotted pile carpet the structural weft threads alternate with a supplementary weft that rises at right angles to the surface of the weave.Tufted -These are carpets that have their pile injected into a backing material, which is itself then bonded to a secondary backing made of a woven hessian weave or a man made alternative to provide stability

Azerbaijan has been since the ancient times known as a center of a large variety of carpet.

The carpet history is assumed to be divided into the following four main periods:

I period - the early stage of the carpet development. The carpet ware is very simple, without any motifs and patterns. The first palas and djedjims appear.II period - introduction of the kilim weaving practice by the intricate threading technique.III period - weaving of shadda, verni, sumakh, zili. The period of simple and complex whipping techniques.IV period - introduction of the knotted pile weaving. Both from the technical and artistic standpoints this stage can be considered the acme of the carpet making.

Kuba-Shirvan

The Shirvan carpet weaving school:The Shirvan school is famous for its superb carpets.Shirvan is one of the most ancient historical regions of Azerbaijan. Carpet making of different types is a widespread craft with both settled and nomadic natives. The Shirvanschool accounts for carpets manufactured in the following towns and villages of the Shirvanregion: Shemaha, Maraza, Akhsu, Kurdamir. The school totals 25 compositions.

Kuba-ShirvanThe Kuba carpet-making school:The Kuba school that includes the Gonagkend and Divichi districts covers up to 35 pattern compositions of the carpets. Kuba is an historical region hosting a plenitude of various tribes. Even now the region is populated by ethnic groups that speak different languages, among them Azerbaijanis, Lezghins, Tats, Budugs, Gyryzys and others. The ornamental pattern is characterized by geometrical and vegetal motifs, most of them stylized. These include Gyryz, Gymyl, Gonakend, Shahnezerliand other carpets.

Ganja-Kazakh carpet-weaving schoolThe carpets of this school are notable for peculiarity of their compositions and ornamental patterns. The Ganja carpets include a relatively small number of carpet compositions, all in all between 8 and 20 patterns. The Kazakh carpets cover about 16 compositions with various patterns. The Kazakh carpets have a geometrical ornamental pattern, the composition is not very complex with a focus on a schematic presentation of the geometrical patterns, plants and animals.

Karabakh school of carpet The Karabakh carpets amount to 33 compositions. Due to the specifics of the local sheep wool the Karabakh carpets are characterized by thick pile, high and fluffy. These carpets are marked for their vivid and joyous colors. They are divided into four groups: without medallions, with medallions, namazlyk and subject carpet. In the mountainous part of Karabakh the carpets were made in Malybeili, Muradkhanly, Dashbulag, Jabrayil, Horadiz and many other villages.

The Baku carpet schoolThe Baku school of carpet weaving includes the villages of Novkhany, Fatmai, Nardaran, Bulbulya, Mardakan, Gaadi. These carpets are marked for their increased softness of the material and intense colors, as well as excellent artistic taste and exquisite decoration. This school has about 10 compositions. The historical sources and inscriptions on the carpets testify to the fact that carpet making was widely spread in these villages and carpet-ware was exported outside the country. The carpet composition often includes medallions. They are filled by various motifs, most often by stylized images of plants, which lost their resemblance to the original object after they had been geometrized.