TEHRAN (IFILM) -- Bafq, an ancient town in the central Iranian province of Yazd, has been recognized as the National City of Handwoven Mats to honor all craftspeople of the city and help preserve the valuable traditional art.
Iran’s Deputy Minister of Handicrafts announced the news in a press release, adding that more than 2 thousand mat weavers are working in the city.
“When a city wins a national title in a crafts field, it is a brand for the city that can attract tourists,” the official added.
People in the city of Bafq has long been practicing the art of mat or doormat weaving.
As one of the most ancient handwoven arts produced in the Iranian Plateau, a doormat or flooring mats are made by integrating herbal fibers into each other.
Fibers of the palm tree should be first wetted and kept under a soaked fabric in order or make the fibers soft and flexible.
What makes this product unique in its kind is the artistic taste of the weaver and utilization of different pigments.
It is not known when and where the craft was first created. But archeologists have discovered traces of mat weavings on plaster pieces that belong to six thousand years ago.