London, England, October 3, 2005--A noted sculptor has called for paying more attention to woven handicrafts of tribal communities in order to prevent them from becoming extinct, according to Iran Daily.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of an exhibition featuring tribal carpets, Parviz Tanavoli said, “We are seeking to recover unique Iranian carpets which were smuggled out of the country due to inattention of Iranian kings, and the neglect for carpets woven by tribesmen.”
The Carpet Museum adopted a wrong policy in seeking the return of carpets from the Safavid era which were smuggled out of the country by the Europeans during the Qajar era, he said adding that the museum however managed to get back only a few of them at huge costs. However, if the museum had focused its attention from the outset on collecting unique carpets woven by tribesmen, an unmatched collection of carpets would have been available now, he regretted.
Tanavoli further stated that everybody thinks that it is easy and commonplace to identifying such carpets while the number of the experts majoring in this difficult field in Iran is few and far between.
Observing that one of the most important ways of preserving valuable carpets is to set up regional museums, he recalled that 80 years ago, the tribes were considered the most important power in the country.
They were brave, vigorous, proud and content people whereas today they are poor, he said, adding most of them own pickup vans because they have lost their cattle due to draught.
Meanwhile, director of National Carpet Center, Morteza Faraji referred to the positive impact of such exhibits and said that the carpet industry should be viewed from various perspectives including safeguarding cultural heritage, economy, job generating and preventing migration to cities.
