Dubai, meet the '21st century Carpet King'

IT'S AN INDUSTRY for which this region has traditionally been world-renowned, yet it could be said that the buzz around fine Iranian rugs and carpets isn't as vibrant as it once was.  One man, Hossein Rezvani, is looking to change all that.
Putting on a solo exhibition with carpet gallery Iwan Maktabi at the Salsali Private Museum in Al Serkal Avenue from October 23, his designs look to reinvent the carpet.
Dubbed the "21st century Carpet King" back home in Iran, Hossein's designs feature up to one million knots per square metre, bringing cultural heritage back to contemporary living spaces. For these he's won awards including: the Red Dot Design Award 2011, the German Design Award 2013, Harper's Bazaar Interiors Design Award 2015 as Best Textile Brand', as well as in 2016, the Carpet Design Award for Electric Taupe.
Here Hossein gives us some mind-blowing stats and numbers around his work to see just what goes into these artistic icons.     
7 months, two weavers working 4-5 hours a day knot a 6sqm carpet
2000 man hours go into the creation of a sole 6sqm carpet - 214 days x 5 hours x 2 weavers totals 2,140 man hours!
6 million knots goes into a 6sqm carpet made by hand.
25 weavers in 2007; today Hossein employs more than 500 weavers.  
19 carpets were all Hossein Rezvani had in 2009. Today he produces over 500 handmade carpets every year. Rezvani debuted his collection in 2009 at the Index exhibition in Dubai.  
48,000 Dirhams is the starting price for a 6sqm carpet!
david@khaleejtimes.com