Dubai: Carpet aficionados and art collectors can now head to the Carpet and Art Oasis to get their hands on the rarest and most exclusive handmade carpets brought from top carpet-producing countries in the world.

Carpets dating back to 500 years, including an intricately hand-woven one from Tabriz, Iran, worth Dh3.5 million, are just some of the highlights of the exhibition being organised by Dubai Customs at the Dubai World Trade Centre, Zabeel Hall 2 until January 15, 2016.

Held under the theme, Dubai City of Carpet, the 21st edition of the exhibition is considered to be one of the major attractions of this year’s Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) and is, for the first time, displaying 250,000 high-end carpets at an estimated net market value of Dh2.5 billion, according to organisers.

“There’s nothing like this in the world and there’s no other place that brings such a large variety of handmade carpets under one roof,” said Abdul Rahman Eisa, Chairman of the Carpet Oasis’ Steering Committee. “The pieces displayed here are mostly brought from famous countries along the Silk Road. More than 70 per cent of the carpets displayed are made of pure silk and 30 per cent are woollen carpets.”

Eisa said this year the exhibition is bigger, and is being held with over 6,000 square metres with 54 pavilions representing countries like China, India, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and others. The most expensive rug is running at Dh3.5 million dirhams.

For the first time Turkistan and Azerbaijan are taking part and around 25 per cent of displayed items are antiques brought only as display items. “The antiques displayed are family heirlooms that have been passed down for many generations and date back hundreds of years.”

The exhibition was officially inaugurated on Wednesday by Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem, Chairman of DP World and Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, and Ahmad Mahboob Musabih, Director of Dubai Customs.

A number of officials also attended, including Helal Al Marri, Director General of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, and CEO of Dubai World Trade Centre and Laila Suhail, CEO of the Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE),

People from all around the world flock to the exhibition every year, which has helped in boosting the retail industry and economic growth in Dubai. Sales of have been more than Dh2 billion and nearly 2.5 million carpets have been exhibited since the first edition. “Europeans and Americans are always very interested to collect these items as an investment and they find what they need here for discounted prices during DSF,” Eisa said.

He said he expects to see deals worth millions of dirhams being sealed at the Oasis as last year’s sales turnover went above Dh120 million.

The exhibition will include auctions on handmade rugs, including workshops for visitors to see how carpets are made and how knots are tied. There are also daily raffle draws offering visitors the chance to take home valuable prizes.

The Oasis also has a museum that displays historical documents that tell the story of Dubai Customs.

SOURCE:

http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/society/carpet-oasis-showcases-rarest-carpets-from-around-the-world-1.1645948