Rugged Terrain: Persian Culture Gets Red Carpet Treatment in Beijing's New Gallery

Cold feet? It may be time for a carpet. The city’s options for stylish flooring have recently expanded beyond the realms of IKEA and the odd Tibetan weaver’s market, and thankfully so; Beijing apartments aren’t exactly known to sport much else other than slick, chilly tiles.

Komeil Nasrollahi and his wife Sarah launched Yike Gallery in MOMA in August, and from what we can see, they’re the first in Beijing to sell Persian carpets and tapestries that hail straight from Iran. What little market there is in China for this ancient rug tradition is generally made up of suppliers from Shandong and Xinjiang who sell copied, Chinese factory-made designs as authentic Persian products, Nasrollahi says. He, himself, hails from Nowshahr, a small beach town in North Iran, and has a brother and sister in the carpet business, a fine blueprint for his introducing Persian culture to Beijing.

Before you toss out your slippers, though, you’ll want to check whether you have up to RMB 20,000 handy. Yike’s more intricate wool Bakhtiary-style rugs from western Iran are generally thicker because of the nomadic living conditions that require it, and they can take up to two years to make by hand, boasting a price tag to reflect the labor. Nasrollahi has a mini loom and a half-made mini carpet so that customers can see the complicated process for themselves.

Because floor space isn’t always an option, Nasrollahi also sells wall tapestries fitted with elaborate golden frames. These carpet, delicately woven with silk and wool, could pass so easily as paintings that Nasrollahi requests customers to touch them. Their subject matter ranges from scenes not traditional to Iran, like white stallions, vases of flowers and the generic babbling brook, to Persian designs called Miniature, named after an Iranian painting style dating back to the thirteenth century.

For those who can’t part with their pocket book, but still want a piece of Persia to take home, Yike Gallery sells carpet-covered handbags ranging from RMB 200 to RMB 600 and small vases, which are – you guessed it – adorned with small snippets of leftover carpet.

Yike Gallery
Daily 11am-7.30pm. 104, Building 8, Coco MOMA, Wanguo Cheng, Xiangheyuan Lu, Dongcheng district (134-3933-0557)

Also try: IKEA

A version of this article appeared in the November issue of the Beijinger, out on stands this week. To read the full issue online, click here.

Email: j.rapp@thebeijinger.com
Instagram: @jrapppp

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