cotton foundation carpets are produced with asymmetrical knots. Their design is often inspired by Safavid designs. Carpets from Qom and Nain often have richly decorated medaillons, and tender light blue and ivory colours. Isfahan carpets use more dark red and blue colours. Proveniences Abadeh Afghan Ahar Afshar Arak Ardabil Bakhtiari Bijar Borujerd Heriz (Hariz) Isfahan Jozan Kashan Kashmar Kerman Lilihan Mashhad Nain Shahsevan Shiraz Qom Tabriz Varamin Zanjan Commercial aspects Iran exported $517 million worth of hand-woven carpets in 2002. Iran's carpet exports amounted to US$635 million in 2004, according to the figures from the state-owned Iran Carpet Company. In October 2006, National Iranian Carpet Center revealed that hand-woven carpets have ranked first in country's non-oil exports and hold the third position among overall exports. Nearly five million workers are engaged in the Iranian carpet industry, making it one of the biggest enterprises in the country. The absence of modern R&D is causing rapid decline in the size as well as market value of this art. In 2008, Iran’s exports of hand-woven carpets was $420 million or 30% of the world's market. Iran exports carpets to more than 100 countries, as hand-woven rugs are one of its main non-oil export items. The United States is the single largest importer of Persian hand woven carpets. In 2011, President Obama signed into law an act that greatly enhanced restrictions on Iranian-origin imports, causing the imports of Iranian carpets to be halted. After certain sanctions were lifted on implementation day on January 16, 2016, Iran's exports of carpets in the first quarter amounted to $60 million. In 2017, Iran exported $24.3 million worth of hand-woven carpets but was far from the top producer Turkey, which exported $1.77 billion worth of hand-woven carpets in the same year. Trivia The idiom "Persian flaw", meaning a deliberate mistake, is said to originate from the notion that Persian weavers would intentionally leave imperfections in each rug in the belief that only God's creations are perfect, and to weave a perfect rug would be an insult to God. The most famous Persian carpet is the Ardabil Carpet, in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, which in fact is now a combination of two original carpets, with another piece from the second in Los Angeles. This has been the subject of endless copies ranging in size from small to full scale. There is an 'Ardabil' at 10 Downing