First Chain Marketplace for Nomadic Handicrafts Opens in Tehran

TEHRAN — Iran has opened the first branch of Armaghan-e Il, a new chain marketplace dedicated to handicrafts and other products made by the country’s nomadic communities, creating a national platform for traditional textiles, clothing and crafts rooted in different regions of Iran.
The marketplace was formally inaugurated here Monday during Government Week, with Jahanbakhsh Mirzavand, head of Iran’s Nomadic Affairs Organization, joined by Behrouz Nadaei, deputy for handicrafts at the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, and other officials and representatives of the nomadic and handicrafts sectors.
Armaghan-e Il is intended to function as more than a conventional handicraft shop. Built around Iran’s network of nomadic cooperatives, the project seeks to connect artisans directly with consumers, reducing intermediaries and increasing the share of the final value received by producers.
The opening brought together representatives from 14 provinces. Among the objects presented was a verni loom from Ardabil, chosen as a symbol of the province’s nomadic handicraft heritage. The loom was given a prominent role in the opening ceremony, where it was used for the symbolic cutting of the ribbon.
Verni is one of the most distinctive textiles associated with the nomadic communities of northwestern Iran. Woven primarily from wool, it is traditionally produced by women and girls without a fixed pattern. Instead, motifs are composed from memory and reflect the landscape and animals familiar to the weavers. Deer, gazelles, sheepdogs, eagles, peacocks, lions, foxes and other animals and birds are among its recurring forms.
Ardabil’s verni is part of a much broader regional vocabulary represented at Armaghan-e Il. The marketplace brings together different forms of Iranian nomadic weaving, including kilim and jajim, alongside verni, traditional clothing, handwoven goods and other locally produced crafts. The range reflects the diversity of materials, techniques and visual traditions developed by communities across Iran’s provinces.
In North Khorasan, for example, nomadic households produce Kurdish carpets and rugs, Kurdish tablecloths, jajim, kilim, khorjin saddle bags, palas textiles and

traditional garments. In Isfahan, products associated with nomadic communities include carpets, jajim, kilim and woven bags, as well as dairy products and honey.

Kerman brings another textile tradition to the wider landscape of Iranian craft, particularly carpet weaving and pateh embroidery, while nomadic communities in East Azerbaijan are significant producers of verni, alongside carpets, kilim and jajim. Recent provincial figures estimate that nomadic producers in East Azerbaijan alone could make about 19,000 square meters of verni this year.

The variety of products is central to the concept of Armaghan-e Il. According to the Iranian Agriculture News Agency, more than 7 billion tomans of capital has been committed to the initial operation, with about 150 types of products from different provinces placed in the marketplace on a consignment basis.

The project is also expected to expand beyond Tehran. Officials have announced plans for similar marketplaces in Gilan, Ardabil, Fars, Sistan and Baluchestan, Kerman and Khuzestan. The longer-term ambition is to develop a nationwide network capable of taking nomadic products from local production sites to larger domestic and international markets.

For the organizers, the marketplace is therefore both a commercial venture and a cultural project. Much of Iran’s nomadic handicraft production remains closely tied to households and communities, with women playing a central role in weaving and textile production. Creating reliable markets is seen as a way of supporting household incomes while keeping traditional techniques economically viable.

Armaghan-e Il places these regional traditions side by side: Ardabil’s verni, the kilims and jajims of other nomadic communities, traditional clothing and a wide range of locally made objects. Together, they present Iran’s nomadic craft heritage not as a single style, but as a collection of regional languages shaped by landscape, migration, material and memory.

The Tehran opening is intended as the first step toward giving those traditions a permanent presence in the marketplace and a route to consumers beyond the communities in which they are made.

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First Chain Marketplace for Nomadic Handicrafts Opens in Tehran