Like most people browsing a rug store, the guests at the Minasian Rug Company on Thursday night felt the texture, considered colors, noted the tightness of the weave and took measurements of the cloth.
They also looked at the portraits and stories off to the side, stories about the impoverished Afghan women whose families spent up to a year at a loom weaving the rugs.
The nonprofit Arzu, or “hope” in Dari, opened its first gallery of Afghan rugs at Minasian, 1244 Chicago Ave., Thursday with a special exhibit and guest speaker Shamim Jawad, the wife of the Afghan ambassador to the United States.
Arzu looks for Afghan weavers, many of whom went into debt trying to buy supplies for their craft and dealing with salesmen. The 2-year-old organization then provides them with quality supplies and sellable designs to increase the quality of their products.
The 160 families employed by Arzu each have their own story. Although the $100 debt of Aghul Durdi, a widow with two grown children, might at first seem insignificant, her estimated income of $300 to $400 a year puts it in context.
The first Arzu rug came from a woman who spent the money she earned on a head covering because she had none. Without it, she had not been allowed to leave her home.
“I get inspired every day by these women,” said Connie Duckworth, Arzu founder and president.
In addition to a 50 percent cash bonus when the rug is finished, the weavers receive transportation to free medical care provided by Save the Children. The women sign a contract obligating all the children in the household to attend school and all the women to go to literacy classes.
Arzu receives about 30 to 50 rugs a month straight from Afghan looms.
The event sold about 20 of the 94 rugs there. The tightness of the weave, style of rug and size determined prices, which ranged from the $383, 2-by-2.8 foot piece called Inspiration 4 to the $11,623, 10-by-10.8-foot Trust 3, a large red Persian-patterned rug.
Rug collector Jerry Silverman said the pieces are not of collectable quality but still good and something he would put in his home.
Arzu’s rugs are copies of traditional designs. Duckworth’s favorite rug is an imitation of the oldest known rug, which carbon dates at 500 B.C. The rug depicts animals and soldiers against a rich red background.
“It’s very well-made and very beautiful,” said Robert Lansing who purchased Chains of Hope for $2,613. “Then you hear the story of the empowerment of women and it rips your heart.”
The rugs hung against the pale yellow walls, with one of the rugs for sale resting beneath guests’ feet. The owners of Minasian consulted for Arzu, donated the space and will be the exclusive sellers of the rugs. Its location takes advantage of a large number of customers from Chicago and the North Shore, said Arzu’s Vice President of U.S. Operations Alyssa Rome.
Previously, Arzu only sold rugs online.
“This is a wonderful forum for us to talk with the clients,” Arzu design consultant Colleen Graham said. “People want to touch and feel the rug.”
About 230 people, mostly philanthropists, rug collectors, designers and their friends RSVPed for the event, although Arzu staff said more probably came.
Duckworth invited Jawad as a fellow member of the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council created by President Bush and Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai.
Jawad emphasized education, particularly of women, as a priority for improving conditions in Afghanistan. She said 69 percent of urban and 90 percent of rural Afghan women are illiterate.
“For ages the rug was part of the culture and the only means for rural women to get an income,” Jawad said. “This is what they’re really good at. It’s what they do.”
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