Heriz rugs are made in the weaving
district of Heriz, which is made up of around 30 weaving villages. The names of
the villages in this region, which is about 40 miles west of the famous city of Tabriz, in north
west Iran are commonly found as names of different rug styles from the area.
Contrary to most carpets, these Persian hand knotted carpets are not named for
the town they were created in, but for their level of quality. For example a
Heriz carpet is the highest quality floor covering from the region, and then
there is the Mehriban, the Gorevan, the Ahar, and the Sharabian rugs amongst
many others.  The Heriz carpets are all  very similar in design, with a common geometric pattern.

Heriz rugs almost always have a
large central medallion design and corner spandrels. The rug’s central
medallion typically lies on a red field and includes geometric shapes of leaves,
flowers and other motives. The rug also features a broad main border pattern
that is called a Herati pattern.  These
floor coverings have been known to be quite large in size, normally 6 x 9 feet
being the smallest size.

Heriz rugs are commonly made with a
cotton warp that can be either depressed or non-depressed. The weft can have
two shoots or even a single weft. The weft is normally made with cotton and is
a blue color. The pile is almost always wool and are generally more coarsely
woven than traditional Persian carpets. The coarse pile can cause the floor
covering to wear more quickly, but a very high quality Heriz will withstand wear
for much longer than a lower quality one. There are some antique pre 1900 silk pile
Heriz rugs with high count knots, but these pieces are very rare.

Older Heriz rugs are typically made
with softer colors, like light blue, khaki, pink, ivory and rust. Newer carpets,
which are identified as post-World War II rugs, have much brighter tones like
blue, green, red, white and brown. The term Serapi has been known to identify
older, pre-World War II Heriz carpets. There is no village named Serapi, but it
signifies a very old carpet that is very high in quality.  These pieces typically have a depressed warp,
the softer tones and large geometric designs. They do stay very true to the
typical Heriz pattern, with a large central medallion, corner spandrels and
geometric shapes.