Rug Centre
We are an internationally known and established Afghan family owned business that has been producing hand-knotted rugs and kilims for the past four generations spanning a 60 year period.
In London, UK for over 25 years now, at The Rug Centre we sell Afghan rugs and kilims handmade by our own weavers in the Northern regions of Afghanistan. There is no ‘middle man’ involved enabling us to offer you the best competitive prices.
Our UK showroom and warehouse in North London houses hand-made rugs and flat weave kilims, predominantly from Afghanistan as well as stocking the best of Persian, Pakistan and Turkish rugs. Our rugs adapt to the spirit of the time, place and lifestyle enhancing all room settings and periods.
For those who appreciate inherent value, our ‘rugs’ individuality, aesthetics and quality mark the difference between the ordinary and the extraordinary. It is this ethos which distinguishes our rugs from all others with highly set standards that other makers aspire to.
The old manufacturing traditions have been perfected to produce unique and exquisite hand woven rugs in colours that are perfect for modern day interiors with a classical edge. Using only the best hand-spun wools and dye recipes created from vegetable and earth pigments, some man-made dyes and using traditional dying methods*.
A hand-made rug can take months to complete, each knot being tied by hand. Looking on the back of each rug you will see the knots, which should be consistent in size and even. The smaller the knots are, the longer the making time, which explains the price difference between machine-made mass produced copies and a genuine handmade rug.
Our Video will give you a real insight into the age old craft of rug making which still continues to this day in Afghanistan.
Being much more than just a commercial enterprise, our company provides stability and employment, schooling and healthcare in areas where war and poverty have ruined so many families. We have built up the numbers of workshops and looms across many Northern Afghanistan regions and now employ a workforce of over a thousand men and women whose roles vary from shepherds, sheep shearers, yarn spinners and dyers, to those involved with design, hand knotting and finishing rugs. Additionally we have a strong team of warehouse porters and drivers who manage the transportation of the rugs down through rocky terrains and sometimes dangerous areas of Afghanistan in order to begin the export process.
Buying your rug with The Rug Centre enables us to continue providing employment, education and health care to our workforce and their families in Afghanistan.
Smaller numbers of displaced Afghan weavers who were refugees continue their craft of hand knotting rugs in Pakistan. While they were in refugee camps on the borders they made many small rugs depicting the war scenes they had witnessed during the Russian invasion. Now, depending on their individual ethnic group or background, they continue to make the same traditional rugs as their fathers before them. (Uzbek, Kazakh, Baluchi, Turkoman)
Added to this number are now refugee weavers fleeing the Taliban.
