All Natural, No Added Anything!

THIS RUG HAS BEEN SOLD.
I bought this carpet because it was different. It has this Navajo-like look but the different thing about is not the design.  It contains wool of varying shades of brown/beige and none of it was dyed.  Whatever the color you see is the color of the sheep. Au naturale.  That's why I bought this.  It will go anywhere I want it.  And there's a story to go with it. This rug was made in Lahore, Punjab (Pakistan).  The carpet will last longer because there's no dye in it.  Even though most carpets are colored using natural dyes, any dye will cause the fibers to break down sooner than natural fibers.

#16

Lahore Carpet Manufacturing Co. Carpet

While in Lahore, Pakistan, several of us visited the Lahore Carpet Manufacturing Co.  This place was amazing...and huge. I learned so much about carpet making! I wrote extensively about it on my blog, www.atexgal.blogspot.com.  Search on the right hand side for the blog archive and go to August 2012 for "Hand Knotted Carpets 101."  Very interesting!

After our tour, we went into his showroom and had the opportunity to buy what we wanted for a very nice discount. This place was about half the size of a football field...and I'm talking just the showroom! For at least an hour we all wandered around looking at all kinds of carpets.  I settled on the one below. It's very detailed and I loved the part of the design that looked like snakes. Not sure why that appealed to me since I hate snakes.  But...maybe in a rug, they don't look so bad. It is 6'x9' and on my invoice, the design is called Avari.  It's hand knotted wool on cotton.

#17

Shalimar Garden Rug

Lahore, Pakistan was a really interesting place.  There were so many places to see and fortunately I was there when we could get out and see some of the city.  Lahore is the cultural center of Pakistan and even though it can be old, dirty and scary, it was also beautiful.  One of the places that was beautiful was Shalimar Gardens.  If you visited it at the right time in Spring, you might have seen a lovely place.  However, it seems that it has lacked the attention it so deserves.

This small 3'x5' rug is called Shalimar.  The design mirrors the garden.  It is divided into quarters, just like the garden.  I love the reds, grays and blues in it and it will always remember my trips to Shalimar.

#14