A disappearing culture

Rugs are a reflection of way of life, which is now fast disappearing. In many centuries, all aspects of visual expression were given form through the medium of weaving. In societies where the woven rug originated, the entire cycle of human existence was closely linked to the rugs forming its economic and cultural lifeblood. For many tribal groups, their very identities were expressed by the designs of their woven rugs.

Today in an age of mechanized production of all life's necessities, oriental rug is one of the few art forms still produced by hand in traditional pattern and technique unchanged for thousands of years. Unfortunately, in a short time the art of hand-woven rug will have disappeared. We are in the twilight of the hand-woven rug. Foreign values and the relentless pressure of economic survival in the twenty first century are attracting weavers to big cities and bringing an end to the art and a way of life.

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