By Syma Sayyah, Tehran

Payvand.com - Last week I went with my friend Mary for a special shopping trip to the Tehran main bazaar.  She was looking for a special kind of Persian material called termeh to make into a coat for a special occasion.  Termeh is a valuable and beautiful decorative cloth, finely woven and comes in many different, usually bright and cheerful colors and patterns.  In the past some had flora and fauna motifs but now mostly it is different types and sizes of paisley design.  In the very good old days it was made by hand.  Even now the machine made ones are so beautiful and colorful to look at.

In many Iranian homes special silver embroidered termeh is handed down from one generation to the next and some people frame them and hang them in their home for all to enjoy, but they can also be used as a tablecloth or to cover a surface.  The pattern and colors may seem very similar but the effects are different. It is amazing how many shades of red or orange can be there.

In most Iranian homes you will find a janamaz (prayer mat) which is normally brought to the household by the bride as part of her dowry.  We have two, which have come down to me from my mom and grandmother, and they are used by those who come to our house and wish to pray.  They say that termeh from Yazd, Kashan and Isfahan are very special.  The origins of termeh are obscure, some believe it came from Kashmir, but others believe that before that it came from Iran.

After some wandering around the bazaar we went to a small shop and the salesman directed us to the main gallery showroom of the Iran House of Termeh, on the first floor of a building nearby.  We went up on a tiny open fronted lift to this wonderland of colorful and delightful termeh.  There the sales manager Mr Farhad Safari and his assistants were most helpful and brought down many bales of material for us to see and hold against the mirror to see if it was what we wanted and they were also extremely polite and friendly.

After considering many options, Mary found a termeh with the right color and pattern and bought three meters for her coat.  I am sure she will look dashing once she gets it made up by her dressmaker and puts it on.  Here I have a few photos from our trip.

... Payvand News - 10/30/08 ... --