THE RICHARD POINTON COLLECTION EXPECT THE EXTRAORDINARY "BRINGING IN THE GARDEN..." Iranians are renowned for their hospitality. Just spend a little time with garden design carpets, to my eye anyway, are not only formal, they seem them and you can be sure that you will be invited home for a meal or, rigid and contrived. However, by comparison, in the hands of the as it has been my experience, to even stay for the night. Bakhshaish they become organic and whimsical and that of course is their About 25 years ago, my friend Ali and I had spent the early part of the day charm. with a carpet dealer in the village of Shah Reza and, at about one o'clock in In this example, streams of flowing water divide up the entire garden into the afternoon, he invited us to his home for lunch. different areas. And the detail of the water alone is nothing short of Given the beautiful pieces we had just bought from him you can well amazing: the weaver has created delicately drawn rivulets of water in such imagine my surprise when I arrived at his home and there wasn't one carpet to be seen anywhere. There were just the bare marble floors. a way that they really do give a sense of movement and flow to the whole design. And let's not forget the delightful, highly stylised and rather fanciful fish. Over lunch I asked him the reason why. He just laughed and exxplained what he thought should be blindingly obvious: during the summer, with temperatures getting into the high 30's, the family preferred the coolness of with beautiful flower beds and trees in a splendid array of colours and all the marble, so the carpets were rolled up and stored away until winter. The garden itself has been composed so that no two plots are identical, this is fenced in by a border of Cypress trees and shrubbery. With the onset of the cooler weather, the carpets were brought in and laid For the etymologically inclined, the ancient Persian word for an enclosed out again. He said that he called this "Bringing the gardens into his home to garden is "Pardis" and, over time, this has been anglicised to become make it beautiful for the winter". "Paradise". Perhaps this is why carpets in the garden design in particular were so popular and were made all over Iran. However, my favourite examples are the vintage pieces from the Bakhshaish of the Persian Caucasus. And because the name "Garden Design" seems too ordinary for this exquisite carpet I have given back to it the name it deserves - Bakhshaish Pardis. The carpet illustrated is in fact a classic revival from my own production inspired by a vintage Bakhshaish, circa 1870. RICHARD POINTON The field of course, is a formal garden arrangement, but in typical Bakhshaish fashion, in its conception and execution, it is anything but formal. In the hands of weavers from, say Tabriz or nearby Isfahan, the ANNA WILLIAMS Oriental Carpet Repairer Instore Sunday from 1pm 3pm for consultations & quotations COLLECTION Oriental Carpets and Collectibles. Established 1987. Open 4 Days: Thursday & Friday 9.30am-4.30pm, Saturday & Sunday 10.00am-4.30pm Showroom & Warehouse: 6 Armidale Street, Petone, Phone: 0800 rugsnz (0800 784 769) or 021 434 972 Website: richardpointon.co.nz THE RICHARD POINTON COLLECTION EXPECT THE EXTRAORDINARY "BRINGING IN THE GARDEN..." Iranians are renowned for their hospitality. Just spend a little time with garden design carpets, to my eye anyway, are not only formal, they seem them and you can be sure that you will be invited home for a meal or, rigid and contrived. However, by comparison, in the hands of the as it has been my experience, to even stay for the night. Bakhshaish they become organic and whimsical and that of course is their About 25 years ago, my friend Ali and I had spent the early part of the day charm. with a carpet dealer in the village of Shah Reza and, at about one o'clock in In this example, streams of flowing water divide up the entire garden into the afternoon, he invited us to his home for lunch. different areas. And the detail of the water alone is nothing short of Given the beautiful pieces we had just bought from him you can well amazing: the weaver has created delicately drawn rivulets of water in such imagine my surprise when I arrived at his home and there wasn't one carpet to be seen anywhere. There were just the bare marble floors. a way that they really do give a sense of movement and flow to the whole design. And let's not forget the delightful, highly stylised and rather fanciful fish. Over lunch I asked him the reason why. He just laughed and exxplained what he thought should be blindingly obvious: during the summer, with temperatures getting into the high 30's, the family preferred the coolness of with beautiful flower beds and trees in a splendid array of colours and all the marble, so the carpets were rolled up and stored away until winter. The garden itself has been composed so that no two plots are identical, this is fenced in by a border of Cypress trees and shrubbery. With the onset of the cooler weather, the carpets were brought in and laid For the etymologically inclined, the ancient Persian word for an enclosed out again. He said that he called this "Bringing the gardens into his home to garden is "Pardis" and, over time, this has been anglicised to become make it beautiful for the winter". "Paradise". Perhaps this is why carpets in the garden design in particular were so popular and were made all over Iran. However, my favourite examples are the vintage pieces from the Bakhshaish of the Persian Caucasus. And because the name "Garden Design" seems too ordinary for this exquisite carpet I have given back to it the name it deserves - Bakhshaish Pardis. The carpet illustrated is in fact a classic revival from my own production inspired by a vintage Bakhshaish, circa 1870. RICHARD POINTON The field of course, is a formal garden arrangement, but in typical Bakhshaish fashion, in its conception and execution, it is anything but formal. In the hands of weavers from, say Tabriz or nearby Isfahan, the ANNA WILLIAMS Oriental Carpet Repairer Instore Sunday from 1pm 3pm for consultations & quotations COLLECTION Oriental Carpets and Collectibles. Established 1987. Open 4 Days: Thursday & Friday 9.30am-4.30pm, Saturday & Sunday 10.00am-4.30pm Showroom & Warehouse: 6 Armidale Street, Petone, Phone: 0800 rugsnz (0800 784 769) or 021 434 972 Website: richardpointon.co.nz