We are delighted to be able to offer these high quality Tibetan & Nepalese carpets. Supplied by the award winning Alain Rouvere gallery. Our supplier supports RUGMARK against child labour and their Tibetan and Nepalese suppliers are members of the International Trademark for Child Labour Free Carpets. A few years ago the Alain Rouveure Foundation was set up providing a kindergarten/school for the workers' children.
These carpets are simply stunning. In the manufacturing of these exclusive rugs, no bleaching agents are used to clean the Tibetan sheep’s wool - only running water and pure soap. Once the wool has been spun by hand, it will be given to the master dyers. The striking colours in all our Tibetan rugs are provided by nature. Most pigments for the dyes come from plants like INDIGO (indigo fera tinctoria) for blues, RHUBARB root (rheum emodi wall) and BERBERIS bark (berberis aristata) for yellows, WALNUT skins and roots (juglans regia) for browns, or MADDER root (rubia cordifolia) and COCHINEAL (not the insect but in fact its crystallised nest) for reds, to name but a few (a label on each rug lists the pigments used for each individual rug ). The palette of colours with natural dyes is simply limitless and can go from rich deep hues created by over-dyeing several times, to soft pale shades achieved by using the "spent" baths. Combinations of any of the pigments above will create an even greater range of colours, very much like artist’s watercolours, because they have a transparent quality synthetic dyes rarely achieve. The difference between natural dyes and artist’s watercolours is that they must not be mixed together in the same dye bath, but used separately because each pigment often requires a different fixative and sometimes mordant ( the substances used to naturally open the scales of the fibres so that the dye can adhere to and be trapped in them ).
The technical term for the variation in tones in rug and textile circles is "abrash". Abrash is not a defect or poor craftsmanship. It occurs naturally most of the time. In fact, good abrash in a rug is not only welcomed, it can make it valuable because it makes the rug unique, which is anathema to chemical dyes. The tradition of dyeing with natural pigments is ancient and can be very complex. Man has had thousands of years to play with and perfects this incredible art. The process of making these rugs is complicated, slow and more expensive because of the use of 100% natural pigments. Most rugs in the marketplace use synthetic dyes. So it gives us great pleasure to be able to offer these very traditional rugs.
We are starting with these superb Tiger Rugs. Each rug comes complete with two tags, one that explains the plants used for the dyes and the names of the weavers involved in the production, the other tag is the story of the design and information about the production and how to care for the rug.
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