Pakistani Carpet Industry Goes to Kazakh Designs

Karachi, Pakistan, April 16, 2007--Pakistan’s carpet industry has survived the decreased use of hand-knotted carpets in the European markets by diverting its production from traditional Persian designs to the Kazakh vegetable dyed varieties introduced by the Afghan refugees, according to The News.

As the European carpet market started shrinking a decade back, some innovative Pakistani exporters took advantage of the available artisans among Afghan refugees to introduce custom-made vegetable dyed Central Asian designs in the US market that really paid off.

Lahore and its suburbs had always been the hub of carpet-weaving activities for the traditional Persian varieties. The local artisans initially showed reservations to adopt the new techniques introduced by the Afghans. However, as the market for the traditional varieties continued to shrink, they were forced to take interest in weaving new varieties.

According to the research done on hand-knotted carpets industry of Pakistan by Irfan Tahir, this adaptation to new technique was just in time to save Pakistan from elimination from the world carpet market. The vegetable dyed carpet, he added, fascinate the US consumers, as the dyes used are natural and the Kazakh designs are fascinating and centuries-old. He states that as the Afghan refugees returned, the vacuum, created by their absence, was filled by artisans from Lahore and its suburbs. Today, Lahore is the main carpet producing and exporting hub of the country.

The cities that failed to adapt to the new designs and techniques no more exist on the carpet map of the country. Karachi is one example. Eighty per cent of carpet exports of the country originate from Lahore. The Afghan artisans found the climate in their homeland not conducive for carpet production and are slowly returning back. However, they have provided the carpet weavers of Lahore with an opportunity to work hard in their absence and train a big lot of local weavers in the Afghan carpet weaving technique.

The trends in carpet marketing have changes. Earlier, all the traditional carpets made in Pakistan were sold to one or other buyer. Now, the foreign carpet buyers give their color, size and design to the exporters that makes them custom made according to the specifications. The US buyers introduced this concept decades back and now the Europeans are also following them.

There is still shortage of carpet weaving force in Afghan classical designs. As most of the Afghan carpet weavers were women and children, many of these artisans have not been able to come back to Pakistan. As all the major carpet exporters are located in Lahore, they are making hectic efforts to train further local force. They apprehend that the carpet factories, being established in Afghanistan, would be a threat to local exports once things become normal in Afghanistan.

Despite shortage of weavers for producing Afghan classical designs, the local carpet weavers are still subjected to exploitation. They get orders through contractors or middleman that takes a large pie of their earning through the manufacturer.

The experienced workers are paid around Rs1,200 per week and the younger ones receive half of this amount. The wages of the carpet weaving children are paid to their parents. The weaving is rapidly shifting around Lahore from home to sheds of the manufacturers that pay the workers according to the labor laws.