Description
Gabbeh carpets originate in another region but are now famously made in Afghanistan, where local weavers use beautiful vegetable dyes to produce the traditional geometric, almost cubist designs. Despite being traditional and ancient the designs are quite modern looking and very popular in today’s homes. The vegetable dyes most commonly used are madder, the root of a spindly bush, which is used to create a red color, walnut peel for dark brown, pomegranate peel for light brown, and sparak, which is a wildflower from the steppes, is used for yellow. The process of making a rug includes cleaning, washing and dyeing the wool which is sourced from local villages.
Herat Oriental works with over 2,000 village weavers to create beautiful, authentic, handmade rugs. The majority of the weavers are women, who live in the villages of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. As we grow, we are able to create more jobs for female weavers who otherwise would not have the opportunity to do so. The community also thrives from rug weaving as the local farmers benefit from wool sales, and the local artisans create natural and vegetable dyes for the weavers to use in their designs. Due to the handmade nature of our rugs, the size may vary from as advertised by 3-4 inches. Regular vacuuming and annual professional cleaning will keep your rug looking new for years to come.
