(11 Mar 2018) LEAD-IN:
Carpet weaving by hand is a traditional art in Armenia.
One family has been keeping the art alive - by buying, selling, cleaning and repairing fine hand-made rugs and tapestries for the last 100 years.
STORYLINE:
The Megerian Carpet Company, the largest factory in the country, was established in Armenia 2012.
Carpet weaver Julieta Sekhlyan says hand making carpets is a prestigious job for a girl in Armenia.
"I have been weaving carpets for about 50 years and I love my work very much. Weaving carpets is a very honourable job for a girl in Armenia. Adult women and young girls are all engaged in the weaving process."
Leonid Andrenasyan, Commercial director of Megerian Carpet Company explains that all the dyes used are natural.
"This is the nutshell which gives the thread this brown colour. Those are sawdust fillings for beige colour, everlasting flower (Helichrysum bracteatumgives) gives the colour yellow. This is root marena."
The main distinguishing features of the Armenian rug are the unique Armenian double knot, geometrical figures and vivid colours, as Andrenasyan explains:
"(Armenian) carpets can be distinguished from other carpets by their design, they have more geometrical figures and different colours, but the most important is the knot. We call it Armenian double knot. As Armenia is a Christian nation, in almost every carpet we can see a cross. In general, all these geometrical figures have their meaning."
Ara Shushanyan, the local manager of Megerian Carpet Company explains the history of the company.
"The Megerian carpet company was established in 1917, already a hundred years ago by the grandfather of the current owners. At first, grandfather Megerian was involved in the repairing, washing and buying of antique rugs. When the company passed to his grandchildren they started to manufacture hand woven rugs. The first factory, Megerian factory they opened in Egypt, followed by Afghanistan, Romania, Pakistan, China and India. In 2002 they returned to Armenia and they bought this facility called Higorg and they started to use the Armenian traditional rug weaving process and the Armenian traditional double knot. And it is a very important fact that we use only organic ingredients to colour our rugs."
The Megerian company currently has 22 rug weaving facilities.
Designs include Mahals rugs which are reproductions of antique Persian Carpets; Karabaghs (also spelled Karabakh) which consist of interpretations of European floral motifs inspired by the original ones woven by Armenians in the late 19th century.
Armenia has a rich cultural heritage. Two millennia ago, Armenia was a vast kingdom stretching between the Black and Caspian seas. Eventually it was divided and absorbed by bigger states, including the Ottoman empire and czarist Russia, and later the Soviet Union.
Armenians like to brag that Noah's Ark came to rest in their country, on the biblical Mount Ararat though the snowcapped mountain is now part of Turkey, overlooking Yerevan. The country is said to be the first state to have adopted Christianity as its religion.
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