Influential Elements in Design of the Kheshti Rugs of Chaleshtor

Every Ethnic and regional art is the crystallization of regional rituals, customs, and religious beliefs, which have ancient roots; relying on these values the community can justify its ideas and beliefs. Chaleshtor region is one of the special areas in the field of traditional arts, handicrafts and particularly hand woven rugs. Its rugs have a special place in the carpet world because of the factors such as its unique colors, designs and motifs. Motifs in one of the most famous rugs of this region, Kheshti (or brick-shaped) rugs, have a universal visual expression which are depicted mainly to convey a given content or used as ornamentations. This paper attempts to answer the question - what are the most important influential factors in emergence of the Kheshti rug designs of Chaleshtor? Therefore samples of the most authentic Kheshti rugs of the region were collected based on their antiquity and visual quality during the field work, all the motifs inside the brick-like shapes were identified and categorized, after which their origins were studied. It seems that some of the motifs have ancient roots, originating from – nature, beliefs, cultural influences and the local style. This paper using descriptive method, aims at finding out the most important influential factors in emergence of some of the Keshti rug motifs of Chaleshtor. The results showed that the nature and cultural factors have the most influence on Kheshti rug designs of Chaleshtor.