"Thoughts on Old Gabbeh"

It's been a while. This is Hirai!
It feels like it's been a while since I last wrote about Rug is good.

The rugs we purchased last July are still arriving slowly, and the other day a cute old Gabbeh finally arrived in Japan.

This cute Gabbeh was found in a carpet shop in a small town near Kazerun, about 140km west of Shiraz.
The scene of taking all the rugs from the warehouse outside, lining them up under the open sky, and selecting the rugs in the sun is still burned into my memory.

This guy was clearly visible in the photo!

Layout carries many new types of Gabbeh, but this old Gabbeh is the predecessor of these modern Gabbehs and reminds us of the roots of Gabbeh.

First of all, what is Gabbeh?

Gabbeh carpets are thought to have been made from a fairly early stage in the history of nomads, and their roots can be traced back to around 3,000 years ago, when they created a pile-structured (hairy) woven fabric that resembled the structure of sheepskin.

(It's amazing to think that long before faux fur and vegan leather were even available, nomads were already figuring out how to keep animals alive and still get that warm fur!)

As can be seen in this old Gabbeh, it is characterized by coarse knots, long pile, and a rough weave.

They were made to be laid directly on the ground or used as a bed, and were also used as blankets in the past. The more knotted threads a carpet has, the heavier it becomes.

I think that lightness was an important factor for early Gabbehs, as well as thickness. Nomadic people had to carry their belongings on the backs of horses, camels, and donkeys, so instead of wooden boxes to carry their belongings, they made woven woolen bags. A lighter Gabbeh would also reduce the burden on the animals.

Looking at this old Gabbeh, you can clearly see that each knot is very large and the thread is thick.
I don't want to sound like a carpet maker, but if you measure the number of knots, it looks like it has 40,000 knots. Even though the weave isn't fine, it's still so cute.

What is "good" is different for each person, and I find it even more interesting to learn that it makes sense in their own lives.

While thinking about these old Gabbehs, and as I have talked about Beni Ourain several times recently, I would like to talk about old Gabbehs and Beni Ourain.

About Beni Ourain

It seems like the craze for Beni Ourain has cooled down a bit, but the brand is still very popular.
As I was thinking about old Gabbehs, I was reminded of the Berber people who live in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa.

These are tools of life used by nomads who traveled through the same mountainous region, even though their locations were different.
It is said that Beni Ourain rugs were used as bedding on the floor and as wraps, which shows that they were used for purposes very similar to Old Gabbeh rugs.

If you lived in the snowy, frigid Atlas Mountains in winter, you would want to wear something fluffy and warm.

Gabbeh was only available as a blanket, but Beni Ourain was meant to be worn over other people's bodies, so perhaps lightness was more important?
If that's the case, and if I remember correctly, the thickness of the thread used in Beni Ourain makes sense, as does the wide, relaxed spacing of the weft threads between the knotting threads.

And it seems that Morocco is a culture where people live with their shoes on.
I couldn't find any photos that show how the Berbers lived in the past, so I'm not sure if this is really true, but when I looked into it, I found that Beni Ourain was used with shoes on.
Perhaps it's a woolen fabric that isn't intended to be used indoors.

Taking into account the true nature of Beni Ourain, we would like to consider the issue of "stray hairs," which is a common question we receive from customers who use Beni Ourain.

Beni Ourain and Gabbeh are made from wool and I think it's safe to say that their structures are almost the same.

Since each is made in a different place, it's possible that the difference in the type of sheep whose wool is used has an impact, but the most noticeable difference is the thickness and twist of the wool yarn.

The wool yarn used by Beni Ourain is thick and does not appear to have been twisted much when it was made into yarn.
This makes it soft and fluffy to the touch, but it also makes the fibers more likely to come off when pulled. Because wool is a collection of short fibers, it will fall apart unless it is twisted or pressed down.
I think this is what causes loose hair to appear in the corners of the room.

However, I think that not twisting the yarn can also be seen as a sign of the wisdom of our ancestors, who wanted to make the yarn lighter.
When trying to make threads of the same thickness and length, threads made with a stronger twist will be heavier, so it's possible that they had their own reasons for making the threads fluffy.

If you learn about the environments in which they were originally used and how they were used, and if you find even their troublesome aspects interesting and incorporate them into your life, you may find yourself growing even more attached to them!

I'm grateful to this old Gabbeh for even thinking of this, and finally, I'd like to give a few recommended points! (lol)

Finally, a little bit about Gabbeh.

If I had to choose just one thing I like about this old Gabbeh, it would be the crab-like motif on the bottom left.

The "person being sucked into a diamond-shaped black hole" next to it is also intriguing, but this motif, which looks like a crab no matter how you look at it, was woven into the Gabbeh shortly after the rug had been woven, and it begins with us wondering what kind of Gabbeh the weaver of this rug was trying to create, making us look forward to what will happen next.

I can't get enough of this relaxed and free atmosphere.
I feel like I can relax and let go of my strength

We talked about the cute and relaxed old Gabbeh and Beni Ourain.

(Text: Hirai)