How collecting carpets can turn a love for handmade products into a profitable business.
A handmade carpet can definitely be a worthwhile investment in both the short and long run. A sale at a well-known auction recently made headlines worldwide, as a Kerman carpet was sold for a mind staggering 33.8 million US dollars. (The actual carpet is shown in the picture above)To probe further into this phenomenon we interviewed one of our CarpetVista customers. He prefers to remain anonymous, but he is an experienced and passionate carpet collector who gives us an in depth look into the world of textile art/carpet collecting.
A passion for collecting
When I started buying carpets I bought them mainly for decorative purposes. As I got more involved and learned more about them, I found that I began to appreciate their artistic value and began buying pieces that I believed could be of growing value and added them onto my collection.
Picking up favorites
The world of carpets offers a rich and diverse variety of styles and artistic expression which makes difficult to select carpets from one region. Many weaving areas are home to high quality masterpieces, but my one favourite weaving region would have to be the North Western Persian area surrounding the city of Tabriz. This area produces some of the most beautiful carpets you can find and one of my first acquisitions was actually a figural Tabriz 70 raj that still decorates the wall of my home.
Smart choices, safe options
My advice is to go for carpets that you personally like and not listen to any stereotypes. Although it has certainly been proven that older carpets with rare motifs and unique colour combinations have a growing market value, most handmade carpets that age in good condition will increase in value. The joy of owning a handmade carpet that ”speaks” to you can not be replaced by any market trend or speculation.
If you insist on acquiring a carpet solely for investment purposes, but don’t have the financial means of venturing into the finer carpet scale of antique and exclusive silk carpets, then I recommend you to go for a carpet where production is dying out. A nomad or tribal carpet (Ghashghai for example) could be a good choice as more and more nomads are moving to the cities in search of a better future.A rather ”cheap” buy today stands a good chance of ten folding in value over the coming decade.
A bright future ahead
As the general production of handmade carpets continues to slow down, the value of quality carpets will undoubtedly keep climbing. Many of the carpets that were easily found on the market only a few years ago are becoming harder and harder to find. It now feels as though we were spoiled by the wide choice we had in the carpet shops and markets. Back then we were able to be picky which is not always the case today.
