Turkmen Felt Rug Makers of Afghanistan

Written by Mary Anne Wise

Our felted wool rug come from a Turkman tribal group of women women’s in Northern Afghanistan. The NGO (Non-Governmental Association) NGO they work with trains and teaches the women members to make wool felted rugs using a centuries old, traditional method. This training not only gives the women a skill that they can use to earn money but it also preserves and extends the textile tradition in Afghanistan. 

In addition to teaching rug making, the NGO also teaches its members Dari and English languages and computer skills. The local people speak Turkmen but to get the best prices for their rugs, they need to go to larger towns where they must speak Dari and English.

The women rug artisans are traditional and work from their homes since they often have 6-9 children. They prefer not to have their pictures taken, so we aren’t showing their faces in this posting. They live simply on about 50 cents per day in a village with no running water or electricity. Their families are often farmers who grow almonds, apples, wheat, cows and sheep. They use the sheep wool to make rugs.

The money these women earn is very important to their families. They use it to buy the basic-necessities and they try to make sure their children are educated. They believe that Cultural Cloth has represented the Afghan felt makers since 2010. We’ve supplied them with designs based on textile motifs from their region of Central and Southern Asia. Our spotted pony rug, a design typical of cultures from the Plains to the Caucasus and beyond, was a perennial favorite.

Knowing the impoverished rug makers have little means to access income-earning opportunities, we understood the importance of our annual commission. Further, we understood many of the rug makers have young children, and some of the artisans are widowed. This fact alone underscored the importance of income earned from rug making. 

Cultural Cloth is committed to our relationship with the Afghan rug makers.