The Dougs learn about Education and Washing Rugs

After a hearty breakfast at the Chaman home we walked across the street to visit St. John’s school. The school is on the same property as St. John’s church. The school has 168 students from Kindergarten to grade 10 and 13 teachers. Families that can afford to pay a small monthly tuition. Families that can’t afford to pay can send their children for free. The Principal, Ms. Mehrul Nisa, said that 60% of the students go on to college.

Many more students would like to attend St. John’s but the school has very limited space. The local public school is quite far away, crowded and does not match the quality of education at St. John’s. Bunyaad’s ongoing support of St. John’s helps the school to provide top notch education for families living in the Saeed Park community.

Design and Finishing Departments

Later in the morning we drove over to the Bunyaad office and warehouse. We had time to watch and visit with folks in the design and finishing departments.

In the design room workers were perfecting new designs and writing Talam for new rugs to be produced.

Wajid’s Rug Washing Location

We walked a couple of blocks over to Wajid’s rug washing location to see how Bunyaad rugs are washed and cleaned before final finishing. Rugs are soaked in water, washed several times with a bleach solution, rinsed, washed again with a soap solution and rinsed again. Wajid and his crew washed an 8 x 10 foot Chobi for us. The whole process took over an hour for 5 men working really hard. After they were done, Wajid told us that some lesser quality Chobis take only 15 minutes to wash. He said that Bunyaad only brings top quality rugs for him to wash – by far the best quality in Wajid’s opinion.

After the washing was done the rug was carried upstairs for drying.

A number of other rugs from other companies were on the roof as well so Wajid showed us a competitor’s Chobi that used machine spun wool and was only 5/5 or 6/6 quality (25 – 36 knots per square inch). In addition, the wool was lower quality so loose fibers could be pulled out of the rug. The Bunyaad Chobi was all handspun wool, 10/10 quality (100 knots per square inch), it weighed at least twice as much and no wool fibers could be pulled out of the rug. Again, Wajid commented that he does not see quality rugs like this from anyone else. These days, only Bunyaad makes 100% handmade, top quality Chobis.

It was great to see the washing process at Wajid’s business today. Especially interesting to us was to hear Wajid declare that Bunyaad rugs are the best quality that he washes in Lahore. He washes rugs for several other clients and told us that no other company gives him better quality rugs to wash. In Wajid’s opinion, Bunyaad is the gold standard to handmade, 100% wool rugs. They are worth every penny our customers pay to own a Bunyaad rug.

Back at the office we enjoyed a great lunch and then headed out to attend our next wedding reception.

Stay tuned for Doug’s next trip post

We hope you’ve been enjoying the notes, experiences and photos and have been able to follow our adventures on the Bunyaad blog so far. Stay tuned for more.

Sign up to receive the next story in your inbox:

Here is a link to all of the posts: Read Pakistan Learning Tour