Story

I am so proud to own this rare and honestly highly important gabbeh. It is one of two that tower head and shoulders above all others that I've seen, along with the Mondrian rug on this website.

It is an extremely unique child woven rug. Traditionally tribal societies would bring young girls gradually into the craft of carpet weaving. They would start out carding wool, separating batches of dyed fiber, and slowly learn the skills of knotting. Eventually, when aged 10-12 they would try making their own rug. The resultant carpet would not be anything much to speak of usually and almost always was coarse and clunky. The girl's mother or grandmother would encourage her to do better next time and would place the carpet in a place of high traffic or use. Thus, these pre-teen child weaves seldom survived.

Once in a blue moon, however, the carpet actually survived--and was heartbreakingly awesome 🤩 This is indeed a masterpiece. The field is plain camel hair of the softest vintage with a single lozenge thrown into the bottom left corner. The border is abstract, woven with undyed black sheep wool, and shows the weaver herself along with her pet dog and what intriguingly looks like a dinosaur 🦖

I love you, nameless young artist. You inspire me. That's why I set my WhatsApp chat background to this gabbed when I got it!