Carpets that still fly

Matin Zamani, a young Iranian importer of handmade rugs to China, tells Mike Peters how the Internet age has caught up with the centuries-old craft.

Swirls of electric blue leap off the finely knotted silk, affirming that the intricate design was handcrafted in Esfahan, Iran.

Indigo, a plant extract, produces the distinctive color today as it has for Persian weavers for centuries, while another vegetable dye, saffron, delivers an equally powerful golden yellow to the door-sized carpet that hangs in front of Matin Zamani.