Tabriz is the second largest city of Iran and has been a center of the Persian carpet trade for centuries. The specialty of these carpets is that they are symmetrically knotted and have a very simple weft arrangement. The highly varied designs include medallion schemes in curvilinear draftsmanship as well as imitations of classic carpet patterns from other parts of Persia.
The designs are regular and mechanical whereas the colouring is too hard since the old vegetable dyes having been largely supplanted by European chromes and anilines. The wool is said to be harsher than that used in other Iranian centres, resulting in a stiffer, crisper pile.
As a local custom, the weavers use a knife with a projection like a buttonhook to tie knots. By using knives, they develop higher speed and have been timed at faster than one knot per second!