Just released! We were thrilled to sit down with Cory & Tim from A Lititz Podcast last week to talk about our move to downtown Lititz. They even got us talking from fair trade to how we “tied the knot.” Listen in as these two Lititz locals truly bring this historical downtown to life with their weekly podcasts.
Listen to the Bunyaad Marketplace session now.
We LOVE telling artisan stories. It’s what connects us deeply with the individual people behind each rug that comes and goes through the doors of Bunyaad. Each one of them has their special skill and their unique story.
Take a moment to get to know Parveen, a rug knotter, and Anwar, a rug designer.
We enjoyed a great time in Pakistan. Everywhere we went we met friendly, helpful and incredibly hospitable people. It seemed like everyone wanted to shake our hands and give us a hug. On Sunday afternoon, while touring the old Lahore Fort, a number of people wanted their pictures taken with us. Contrary to what we hear and read in the media about Pakistan, it’s a great place to travel – safe, friendly, hospitable and very scenic.
Arshad, usually called by her nickname Bebe, and her family live in the village of Darianwala located approximately six miles from the Indian border in Northeast Pakistan.
Arshad and her husband Mustaq have been working for Bunyaad for the past five years (since 2009). Prior to joining Bunyaad the family had been drifting from place to place in hopes of finding work that would support the entire family. As a woman working outside the home would not have been acceptable for Arshad and so the challenge of providing for the entire family rested on Mustaq’s shoulders.
How does a family in rural Pakistan make ends meet when jobs are scarce and mostly seasonal?
When Robyn first started working at Bunyaad Marketplace in Lititz, she quickly learned that she worked with a lot of hungry folks. “I’m Italian,” she exclaimed. “I show my love by feeding people.” And ever since, every Wednesday, she cooks lunch for all of us working that day. She has so many beloved recipes that…
Have you ever tried your hand at dyeing eggs with natural dyes?
Naturally dyeing eggs is truly a labor of love. It speaks to my instilled love for eating healthy. Collecting and prepping all the ingredients like onion peels, purple cabbage and chopped beets shows dedication. Allowing the eggs to simmer in their dye bath for 30 minutes or even overnight for truly stunning deep colors is worth the wait.
When I look at our naturally dyed Chobi Tribal rugs and our Kazak Tribals, I have a new appreciation for the amount of work that goes into producing one of these rugs.
Naturally dyed chobi rugs are roughly 100 knots per square inch but take the same amount of production time as their Persian counterparts at over 500 knots per square inch.
The preparation for getting a Chobi on the loom is over half of the time needed for the rug’s production, where as it takes less than 10% of the total production time of a Persian to get it on the loom.
What takes so much time to get a Chobi on a loom?
Bunyaad is the first fair trade rug business to join the FTF. The FTF is the trade association that strengthens and promotes North American organizations fully committed to fair trade. Bunyaad is proud to be included with the more than 240 FTF members who have one primary purpose: to support artisans and farmers in developing countries through the practice of fair trade. Fair trade guides each and every trading decision that FTF members make – just like Bunyaad has always operated, right from the beginning.
Thanks to stellar work by Bunyaad staffer Doug Horst, we sailed through the FTF application process and easily qualified for membership. The FTF family includes a number of other highly respected fair traders in Canada and the USA like: