Artisan Profile

BY RAEANNE MARSH

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT SANDLER

>>> Passion of Persia, Scottsdale, Arizona and Henderson, Nevada

The passion of three generations of master weavers permeates Passion of Persia, a rug care and restoration service with locations in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Henderson, Nevada. It was the third in that generational line, Nima Soltani, who "revolutionized it into a business," as he puts it.

"I put us in the phone book and on the Internet," Soltani explains. Before that, he says, "We were just a local service; now we have clients all over the world." Much of the Web site's information is educational, as Soltani focuses on teaching people what they need to know in choosing someone to clean and care for their rugs.

He emphasizes the "master weaver" designation, noting the title can be earned only in Iran, in a process overseen by either the University of Tehran or the Carpet Museum of Iran, also in Tehran. One requirement is to be able to repair a rug with at least 600 knots per square inch. Soltani, who at age 24 believes himself the youngest master weaver in the world, can repair a rug with 900 knots per square inch.

One of the first he repaired was his own family's rug, after their dog chewed a corner of it. "I remember my dad and me, when I was 10, repairing it," he says. An even earlier memory is from five years earlier, when still in Iran, cleaning rugs with his grandfather.

While Passion of Persia specializes in Persian rugs, those of many other cultures and provenance also pass through the care of the company's master weavers. "The principles [of rug making] are the same," Soltani notes, reeling off a list of types they care for that includes Navajo, Tibetan and Orientals. In fact, he says, "We clean for the looms of Istanbul, Turkey."

All rugs are made by tension, he explains, and have warp and weft-and fringe. The fringe gets a little extra attention in cleaning: After the rug has been beaten to loosen all the debris, evaluated for potential issues of bleeding color, submerged or otherwise washed only in clean water, and squeegeed clean, the fringe is treated to a second cleaning to rid it of anything that may have settled there after the main part of the rug was cleaned.

It's the dyes—natural, vegetable, aniline or chrome— that make the difference in how a rug is cleaned, according to Soltani. "Different cultures mix these to give different looks." Of concern is not only whether or not a dye is likely to bleed, but also where the colors of the pattern are in relation to each other—for instance, whether red is bordered by black or by ivory. And Passion of Persia uses a technique that can mute a color if it is too strong.

"We have a passion for color matching," Soltani declares, and describes it as a time-consuming process. Passion of Persia uses all natural dyes—pomegranates, for instance, which, Soltani shares, will dye a rug to the same color as its outer shell. Rather than standing out in bright relief as the rug ages, "natural dyes will fade with the rest of the rug." As he evaluates a rug for care, he can recognize the dye. "You get an eye for it when you do a lot," he says, revealing that he worked with thousands of rugs in just the last year. (As the youngest of the company's five master weavers, it falls to him to do the bulk of he rugs, he explains.)

When a 20-by-50–foot rug from a collection in St. Petersburg, Russia was exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., it had to be sent in pieces; Passion of Persia weavers were called upon to put it back together. Extra-large rugs must be cut into more manageable pieces for shipping and for cleaning, Soltani explains, and then made whole again. Passion of Persia has a large collection of wool samples and dyes, and its weavers can hand-spool the wool. This also comes into play in repairing fringe, which, Soltani emphasizes, is not simply artificially added on to the rug's outer edge.

Clients include insurance companies and museums (and not-to-be-named celebrities). Because Passion of Persia does not sell rugs, the company's interaction with interior designers is usually limited to cleaning a rug or making a smaller one out of a larger one. Passion of Persia offers expertise in appraising rugs, for which Soltani feels their knowledge of a rug's rarity contributes to the value of the appraisals. For museums, they consult on care, the main thrust of their advice being to care for the rug so it doesn't need much cleaning. In a museum, where rugs are hung for display rather than used, Soltani explains, "If you beat the rugs, you may only need to clean them every five years." Industry standard, however, is to clean the rugs every two to three years, depending on use and climate.

Passion of Persia, 14455 N. 79th St., Suite B, Scottsdale, AZ, (602) 374-6973; 1716 W. Horizon Ridge Pkwy., Suite 130, Henderson, NV, (702) 413-3575; or www.passionofpersia.com.

Master weaver Nima Soltani knots his way to perfection.