Wednesday
August 16, 2000
Persian rugs with American designs?
After reading the article
on rug merchants in Tehran, I was deeply saddened to learn how some
merchants who obviously are not thinking of anything else except their
own profit, are so naively and superficially ruining one of the most precious
aspect of Iranian heritage and culture which has been manifested in carpet
weaving , by trying to find out what the Americans want or like and changing
the carpet industry in Iran by implementing those "American"
designs.
What a great pity that there are still people who cannot appreciate
the beauty and value of their own culture, and when it comes to foreigners
or Americans they become"kaas-e az aash daaghtar" and do not
hesitate to show off their deeply extended levels of "noukaare kamar
bastegi".
Can't these merchants whose brains are not even as big as a peanut see
that even Indians, Pakistanis, or Chinese, who based on the article, have
been leading the international industry in selling oriental rugs, are imitating
the Persian designs, thus calling their carpets "Indo-Persian"
or "Persian-Pakistani". Or can't they see that a great number
of machine-made carpets in America do have Persian designs?
After all, if the colors and designs of Persian rugs are changed based
on Americans or X nation's tastes, then they can no longer be called Persian
rugs. It is so sad to learn how some Iranians have been always ready to
strip themselves off from their own identity and heritage by not taking
the time to learn about their valuable cultural treasures , by not believing
in themselves, by not having individual and national self-esteem , and
self-confidence.
I hope that this article rings some bells of deep consciousness for
these groups of people.
Hakhamaneshi
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