Tips To Find A High-Quality Handmade Carpet
As demand for quality handmade carpetshas increased, the number of companies producing them has also increased. This increase results in a problem for those looking for a high-quality carpet: Quality is not the same across all companies, and with so many to choose from, how can you know which company will suit your needs? How do you assure yourself that you are buying a carpet truly made by artisans?
An Afghan handmade carpet is known to be one of the best globally. Here are several tips to help you select the right products, especially when purchasing an Afghan carpet online.
Sourcing Quality Raw Materials
Finding a high-quality carpet can be a long and arduous process, especially when buying handmade carpets online Dubai. There are many things to consider when choosing carpets from Afghan nomadic tribes, such as the quality of the wool itself, the sheep breeds, and more.
Truly unique carpets are handmade in Afghanistan by women who have been making carpets for generations. Carpets should be woven using only the finest quality pure wool from specific highland sheep breeds reared by the tribal people.
Additionally, the best quality sheep roam free in the mountains of Afghanistan, producing the highest quality wool because they are not subjected to the stresses of factory farming and are fed a diet of fresh grasses, herbs, shrubs, and flowers. Because they live outside, they molt naturally every year, which produces a very dense “core” that resists pilling and shedding.
No Harmful Chemicals Or Dyes
There are a few things you should look for when purchasing an area rug. An excellent place to start is to look for wool rugs. Wool carpeting is an investment that will last for years if taken care of properly.
TIP! Find out how the wool is spun and dyed. You want a rug with wool that has been thoroughly cleaned, sorted, and dyed. This will ensure the highest quality of carpet available to you. Some people may be tempted to purchase synthetic carpets because they are cheaper; however, the lack of quality may show over time in the product’s durability.
Furthermore, every carpet should be 100% organic, containing no harmful chemicals or dyes. The carpet is washed using natural plant-derived products, which are environmentally friendly and help preserve the wool’s natural oils. This ensures that your purchase from a carpet shop Dubai is unique and environmentally friendly.
Artisans and Craft Quality
The best carpets are handmade by people who take great pride in their work. This is the case in Afghanistan, where carpet manufacturers have been perfecting their craft for thousands of years.
There are some things to keep in mind when looking for a high-quality handmade carpet:
- Carpets made by hand have a better knot density than those made by machine. This means that the wool fibers are more tightly woven together and that the carpet will be more dense and durable once it is installed.
- Look for carpets that have been handmade on a traditional loom — not one created using modern technology and machinery. Hand-knotted carpets are traditionally made on looms passed down from generation to generation, with skilled artisans carefully tying each knot by hand. Machine-made carpets can also be of good quality, but they’re produced much more quickly and involve much less skill than handmade carpets.
- Always use a reputable seller when ordering a handmade carpet— someone knowledgeable about the different steps involved in the process and understands how to choose high-quality materials. Some unscrupulous dealers out there sell low-quality, machine-made carpets as if they were handmade.
Hand-Knotting and Weaving
In Afghanistan, carpet weaving is a traditional skill passed down from generation to generation. It is about producing a high-quality, handmade product and preserving this traditional art form through the generations.
To enhance and sustain the livelihoods of these artisans in Afghanistan, FBMA initiated an Economic Empowerment Program in partnership with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) and Afghanistan Uprising, a local NGO that provides training courses to women master weavers across Afghanistan. In addition to providing economic opportunities for these artisans and their families, which ultimately improves their standard of living, this program creates job opportunities for women and widows who have previously been marginalized in society.
The program aims at creating sustainable employment and income opportunities for Afghan carpet weavers while simultaneously preserving part of Afghanistan’s rich cultural identity. Choose a carpet that is a hand-knotted carpet produced under this program.
Ancient Artistry
At Zuleya, our Afghan-made carpets are woven from pure wool using traditional methods and high-quality materials. Our artisans travel across the country on camels, seeking out different breeds of sheep that produce the finest wool. These sheep graze freely on grassy plains and hillsides in northern Afghanistan, protected by centuries-old nomadic tribes who live off the land.
In many ways, choosing an Afghan carpet for sale is much more than floor coverings – they’re a representation of an ancient culture that has survived through centuries of war and turmoil. They are imbued with a sense of place and purpose, a unique way of life that defines us as human beings.
Choose our carpet store Dubai Zuleya for a high-quality handcrafted carpet.