The Dougs are off to the Bunyaad office

After enjoying a delicious breakfast of fried eggs, paratha and tea at the Chaman home we drove to the Bunyaad office and warehouse on Nicholson Road to meet the staff and learn more about rug making.

Bunyaad office staff

A royal reception was waiting for us when we entered the front door. We had greetings all around with the more than 20 staff people on hand. Doug Horst and I (Doug Dirks) were presented with a basket of gifts that included new Bunyaad mugs and new Bunyaad business cards for both of us.

Chaman Masih, founder of Bunyaad
Chaman Masih, founder of Bunyaad and father of Yousaf, Ehsan, Qaiser and Amir, joined us for lunch.
Doug and master designer
Chief Designer, Mr. Ayub Chohan, with Doug Dirks holding new Bunyaad mugs.
Doug Horst and Qaiser Chaman
Doug Horst and Qaiser Chaman with their new mugs.
Yousaf and Bunyaad staff
Yousaf with office staff at Bunyaad.
Ehsan prepares lunch
Ehsan helped to prepare lunch for everyone in the Bunyaad kitchen.

After lunch we learned about design work and watched designers working on intricate designs that are all drawn and colored by hand.

We also learned about rug finishing that happens at the Bunyaad warehouse. After rugs are washed offsite they are brought back to the warehouse and go through another round of checking. This includes dimensions, edges, fringes and a host of other imperfections that are all thoroughly repaired until the rug looks as near perfect as possible. Even though every rug is entirely handmade they look as close to perfect as you could ever imagine.

We enjoyed a great day getting to know Bunyaad Lahore staff, sharing lunch with them and learning about their work. Bunyaad has assembled an incredibly talented, creative and hard working crew of employees. Probably the most impressive thing we learned today is the incredible dedication and loyalty to Bunyaad that is shared by everyone. It’s obvious that everyone enjoys working together at Bunyaad and that this generates a work environment that produces top quality handmade rugs.

Stay tuned for Doug’s next trip post

We’ll be keeping notes, recording our experiences and taking photos so that you can follow our adventures on the Bunyaad blog. We’ll come back from Pakistan with new friends, memorable experiences, tons of rug making knowledge and lots of new stories to tell.

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Just in case you missed the first post. Read Pakistan Learning Tour

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