What is a Gabbeh?
Gabbeh means unclipped, the term is used to refer to long pile tribal and village rugs. Often times weavers would weave fine tribal rugs for sale and long pile coarser rugs for their own use. Typically the design is less commercial and the pile is longer. Knot counts tend to be low.
They seem to have gotten commercially popular in the 1980s and around this time commercial versions started appearing. The oldest of the commercial variety were simple geometric shapes in undyed wool. Tan fields with brown or black designs were common.
In the 1990s a handful of men sparked a renaissance of Gabbehs using natural dyed wool and non-traditional designs. These men included The Zollanvaris, the Sobhes, Kasra Massarat, and Jim Opie.