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Meet rug artisans Parveen and Anwar

Bunyaad rug knotter Parveen

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.

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Natural Dye for Eggs and Rugs

The natural dye on the eggs goes well with this Persian rug.

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?

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

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…