Blog

  • Can you Balance an Egg on the First Day of Spring?

    ByBunyaad

    Egg-Balance-Banner

    So it was the first day at the Ten Thousand Villages Rug Event in Harrisonburg, Virginia. I was staying at the manager’s house for the event. I came down ready to leave and saw Val Weaver intently concentrating with an egg on the kitchen counter.

    It’s a family tradition, she told me. Every year on the first day of spring her entire family, regardless of where they are, balance an egg and send photos boosting of their skills to the rest of the family. “Actually, every year my dad always buys a carton of eggs and gives them to the office staff so we can compete!” said Danielle, Val’s youngest daughter and a pro at egg balancing.

    I had never heard of this tradition but I was oddly touched by this Weaver family tradition, and the great fun that they have with it every year. So last year I sat down and tried it myself…

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    Fair Trade Makes Every Day Women’s Day

    ByBunyaad

    Celebrating first rug

    Artisans go to the local sweet market and grab their favorite mithai (sweets), maybe hot gulab jamun soaking up the sugary sweet cardamon syrup or to the local jalebi vendor who is busy lifting hot, orange mini funnel-cake-like rounds out of their copper pot of bubbling oil as the jalebi head to their own bath of heavenly syrup.

    One woman carries a carafe of chai made with her water buffalo’s milk. Another grabs more tea cups from her home. It’s time to celebrate.

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    Truffula Trees & Whimsy in the Rug World

    ByBunyaad

    20160216-Persian-Lorax

    Look at this rug. Really look at it. What comes to your mind?

    Upon discovering this rug as he checked in the new shipment, our co-worker Doug proclaimed that he was convinced that Dr. Seuss had something to do with this rug. “Look! Look at those trees! Don’t they remind you of Truffula trees from The Lorax?”. At first, we rolled our eyes but we then saw what he meant.

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    Celebrating Rug Making

    ByBunyaad

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    A wonderful night celebrating rug making and the joy and relaxation of adult coloring!

    Over 30 coloring fans gathered at the Bunyaad Rug Room at Ten Thousand Villages in Ephrata, PA, to learn how fairly paid adult artisans carefully color intricate graphs as part of the rug making process. After a short journey through talams, rug graphs and hand knotting rugs, each person got to color their own rug graph tile.

    “I came for the coloring but I leave with a much greater appreciation for hand knotted rugs and the quality and uniqueness that fair trade produces,” remarked one coloring night participant. “And I’m still in awe of how many knots are in a 9’x12′ Persian rug…over seven million! Just hard to believe that that many knots are all tied by hand!”

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    Top 3 Concerns of Many Rug Customers

    ByBunyaad

    Amir explains bunyaad rugs.When working in the rug room, we hear many of the same fears over and over again and yet by the time most folks leave, they have some peace of mind. Are these some of your concerns?

    1. How will I ever decide from all of these rugs?

    I think this is my all-time favorite concern. Folks walk up to the rug piles with their dimensions and fabric samples in hand, leave out a heavy sigh and proclaim they don’t know how they’ll ever narrow down their choices with so many rugs in our rug room to choose from.

    Honestly, our rug piles can look daunting with over 25 different styles of rugs to choose from and sizes ranging from 2’x3′ to 10’x14′.

    With each customer, we explain that as we look together we will go through all piles that are of interest to them, starting from the top and flipping down to the bottom of the pile. As we bring the rugs back down again, ones that are of interest will get rolled and laid on the floor for customers to compare side by side.