Varamin
Tehran became the capital city of Persia in 1795 by Agha Mohammad Khan who
was a monarch of the Qajar dynasty. Tribal khans and chieftains from allover Iran, in
search of closer relations with the Shah and his court (which meant more power and
wealth), moved to the new capital from their ancestral lands, accompanied by their
followers. With the arrival of each new group of immigrants, others from their wider
tribal affiliates followed.
Although, the rapidly expanding metropolis was able to accommodate the new
comers, it was far from suitable for their traditional pastoral lifestyle, their herds and
tents.
The nearby Varamin plain, some forty kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Tehran,
easily answered this need. Until recently, Varamin preserved its separate rural
identity, with many villages, tribal tents and numerous flocks of sheep and herds of
camels.
In Varamin, the immigrants regrouped in their new homeland in tribal and ethnic
concentrations. Thus we find Kurds and Lors in the north, Arabs in the south and
Turks everywhere but the majority in the east.
In the past 100-150 years, people of Varamin favored making gelims (flat weaves
with no pile) over piled rugs. In recent years, however, the situation is reversed so
that today, rug weaving has replaced gelim weaving as a typical Varamin textile.
Varamin Carpet used to be woven on horizontal looms using woollen warps and wefts.
However, since around 1950s they started weaving on vertical looms using cotton as foundation.
