Our rugs are exquisitely designed and crafted by an artisan group in Pakistan known as Bunyaad (formerly JAKCISS Oriental Rugs). The name meaning “foundation” in Urdu, Bunyaad works to create strong foundations in the villages of Pakistan by paying a fair wage to its artisan families. All rugs are made by fairly paid adults.
Centered around Lahore, Pakistan, Bunyaad was started in the late 1960’s by a Pakistani Baptist pastor and rug artisan as a way to create and sustain rug knotting jobs in rural villages. Bunyaad works with both Christian and Muslim rug artisans, giving people the opportunity to work together, transcending differences of religion, custom and tradition. In this manner, Bunyaad is a peace-building project in addition to being a job creation project.
Bunyaad guarantees a fair wage for their artisans.
Over the years, Bunyaad has grown to include over 850 families in roughly 100 villages throughout Pakistan. These villages are located in two provinces, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly the North West Frontier Province). Bunyaad’s finishing center and warehouse are both located in Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city.
Bunyaad guarantees a fair wage for their artisans. In a rural economy that normally leaves people in very uncertain financial circumstances, reliable and consistent payment fosters unprecedented financial planning capacity. And because artisans are paid per knot, rather than speed, it behooves them to make high quality, high knot count pieces. All of this enables artisans to focus on doing quality work with the knowledge that they have the security of a fair income to care for their families’ needs.
Bunyaad believes in a brighter future for all of their artisans. Artisans who receive a fair and living wage for their work are able to build better homes and living conditions, create educational opportunities for their children, foster better understandings among different religious communities and spread peace through fair wages and equal opportunities for men and women in the villages of Pakistan.These are the foundations created by fair trade. This is Bunyaad.
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