Carpet cartoon / field note 04
The Grid Remembers
Every Hand
Before the first knot, a Persian carpet is a counted drawing: one square, one decision, one memory carried across generations.
Last autumn in Tabriz, I watched a naqqash work over a blue-grey sheet ruled into hundreds of quiet cells. Her pencil did not sketch a flower; it placed decisions. A red square became a knot waiting for a hand.
One cell, one decision
The cartoon makes symmetry practical. Draw one quarter, mark the mirror axis, and the loom can carry the instruction outward. Graphite remains beneath the gouache, so revision becomes part of the pattern rather than an error to hide.