A fair trade rug even has returned to Langley for the fifth year.
Ten Thousand Villages is hosting the travelling show of handmade, fair trade rugs until April 13.
On Friday, April 5, the store is hosting a Loom to Room rug information presentation at 7 p.m. with guest speaker Yousaf Chaman.
Chaman is the director of Bunyaad – a fair trade rug company that works with village rug makers to purchase their wares at living wages.
Rugs are especially important to Chaman, as his father was the creator of the company, and also a rug-maker.
The rugs take anywhere from 12 to 16 months to make, with up to 45 people working on a rug at once.
Chaman added the colours, and designs of the rugs date back a long time.
“Each village you walk into where these rugs are made, it’s common to hear that ‘this family has lived in this house for the last 500 years.’”
The rugs are hand-knotted into detailed designs, and created with wool and naturally-made dye.
“People have produced rugs like these based on their surroundings, design, seasons. So everything speaks to their culture, environment, and the life they live.
Chaman said that the Bunyaad rug artists make roughly 43 per cent of the rug sales.
“This keeps the history alive, in the most fair way possible.”
For more information, visit https://www.tenthousandvillages.ca/rugs