Tibetan Carpet Lines:

   The Machik Tibetan Weaving Project was founded in 1990.It is the intent of the project to establish in one collection rugs that represent the various sources of inspiration found in fine antique Tibetan carpets, while at the same time drawing on sources of inspiration from throughout the traditional and modern world.

    All rugs woven in the Project have colors derived entirely from traditional vegetal dyes, as the original rugs had. Other than indigo (blue), which is obtained in India, these dyes are indigenous to Nepal. Dye sources include madder root (various shades of red), walnut husks (dark brown), several different local flowers and roots (yellows), and an overlay of indigo on yarn previously dyed yellow (green). All Tibetan Project rugs are washed in soap and water only; they are never subjected to a chemical wash as are so many contemporary carpets. Of course, wool is as important as are the dyes to the creation of a superior rug. Thus, only pure hand carded and handspun Tibetan wool is used in project rugs. This is the superior wool available for rugs in the world and the carpets woven with this yarn not only will be extremely long wearing but also will possess an inherent luster that will actually increase with years of use.

   Our original goals were to explore the rich heritage of the Tibetan weaving tradition through the use of superior materials-all vegetable dyes and all hand carded, handspun wool and to generate funds to benefit the Tibetan community in exile. As this project enters its second decade we look back on an achievement we could not have imagined.   We sponsor the education, room and board of over 70 Tibetan refugee students in Srongsten School, a Tibetan exile government school in Nepal with which we have worked for the past 10 years.  We have built two schools in India for the exile government Department of Education, one in Puruwalla, a small settlement in Himachal Pradesh and a second one in Pokrebeong, a hill settlement in eastern India near Darjeeling.  We sponsor ongoing food supplement programs in five exile government schools, 4 of them in eastern India and one at Sarnath near to Varanasi.  We have sponsored the shipment of two containers of textbooks from the US to the Tibetan exile government schools in Nepal and India, and have funded the construction of a computer classroom in Nepal.

    In 1998 we made our first moves toward working inside of Tibet as well with the initiation of a reforestation project in the Potamo region of Kham in eastern Tibet.  Since that time more than 400,000 seedlings have been transplanted to the hillsides in that region which had been denuded of trees due to clear cutting by the Chinese.  We have also established extensive fruit orchards throughout the same region from this project and have begun a pilot program to train local young people in the identification, processing and use of traditional Tibetan medicinal plants.

    In July 2002 we completed our largest project to date with the inauguration of a school built in the Litang district of Kham in eastern Tibet.  This school has been built in the remote Chungba Valley, where up to this time no school previously existed.  The school complex is comprised of classrooms for 210 students, boarding facilities for students and teachers as well as a large kitchen and dining hall.  The school has been built entirely of wood in a traditional Tibetan style and will be a Tibetan medium school with a Tibetan principal and all Tibetan teachers, excepting one for Chinese language.

     While we started this project by concentrating primarily on traditional Tibetan designs we gradually came to realize that the market was much to diverse to restrict ourselves in this way. Thus, while we now continue to weave traditional designs, our inventory of over 250 designs contains those inspired from traditions in every part of the world as well as modern designs of our own creation. We also have a sub-project called "Gaon Naksha" where the weavers create their own designs as they weave. These carpets are free form, spontaneous expression of the weavers’ life experience, usually portraying their origins in villages of Nepal. Our Tibetan carpets come in four qualities, 60 knot, 100 knot, 100 knot wool and silk and 150 knot.  All Tibetan carpets, with the exception of the Gaon Naksha series are programmed to order.

    It is not known when the weaving of knotted pile carpets began on the high plateau of Tibet. However, all the elements necessary for their creation have been present for centuries. For as long as people can remember or history records, Tibetan nomads, or Drogpas, have raised sheep on the Chang Thang, the high grasslands of Tibet. The Chang Thang is one of the highest inhabited places on earth, and the animals bred there have adapted to its rigorous climate. As a consequence, sheep from the region produce an exceptionally long-staple wool with a high lanolin content, an incomparable rug wool that is extremely durable and lustrous.

    The various design motifs and colors which have evolved in Tibetan weaving mirror the history of the region and its unique environment. Some of the simple yet powerful symbols found in its carpets appear to trace their origin to the ancient pre-Buddhist culture and religion of the area. Other, more refined elements of design clearly reflect the enormous impact that Buddhism from India and China has had on Tibet over many centuries. In addition, the neighboring cultures of Turkic Central Asia to the North and West and the Mongols to the North and East have left their own imprint on certain Tibetan carpet designs. Perhaps as a consequence of both the intense light of high altitude and the less urban culture of Tibet, its weavers have incorporated all of the motifs into their own carpets in vibrant, saturated, primary colors.

    Finally, perhaps the most important goal of the Machik Tibetan Rug Weaving Project is to provide financial support to the Tibetan community worldwide. All wholesale proceeds from the sale of rugs made in the Project are directed either toward its continued growth or toward the benefit of the Tibetan refugee community and the children of Nepali weavers, as well as projects within Tibet.