The story of your carpet begins in the foothills of the Tibetan Himalayas. The tenuous reach of modernity is evidenced by the slithering roads which bear the occasional truck, but this high plateau’s isolation has preserved the pattern of life for centuries. The mountains still loom like floating palaces in the distance. The shepherd still watches over his horned sheep, as they graze upon hardy grass and doze beneath a bottomless sky. The white walls of the distant monastery melt into the gray and white mountain range behind, and its prayer flags dance to the wind which pours over the very same ridges. The monks chant, the incense burns, and the cycle of ceremonies, well attended by local inhabitants, continues undisturbed.
These nomadic shepherds are just the beginning of our “chain of custody” and the many, many hands that go into a single rug. After the sheep are sheared, they bring the wool down from the Himalayas to the border. From there the wool gets transported into Nepal where it is passed into the hands of our artisans, whose first task is to transform the wool from its raw state into something weavable. Wire teeth pull the freshly shorn fibers apart, opening it up to be cleaned and finally gently rest in fluffy piles, in a process called hand carding. These wispy clouds are then whipped and spun into thread by hand, allowing for slight variations in fineness to form in the yarn. This lends the finished carpet a natural and relaxed surface, possible only through the slight imperfections imparted by the human hand. Hand spun wool for carpets is a unique feature of our process as it is nearly impossible to find carpet makers today who have not traded it for the more efficient machine-spun wool.
Gathered from the hands of the spinners, these bushels of yarn are passed to the dyers whose precise alchemy turns the raw elements of roots, flowers, and rare medicinal plants into explosive color. Joseph Carini has worked intimately with these dye masters to revive ancient recipes and techniques, many of which existed only in a single mind of a passing generation. Hanging from brass rings, the yarn is repeatedly submerged into bubbling vasts of blues, pinks, and yellows that bleed into each yarn to fully soak in the color.
Once the yarn has dried, and the dye has melted into the fiber, our designs are ready to be brought to life on the loom. Just like their neighbors in the mountains, culture is very family oriented in the Kathmandu valley. Our teams of weavers are often family members or close friends, who become so intertwined in their weaving rhythms that they cannot be split up to work on different rugs. At the outset of our founding, Joseph Carini worked rigorously to reform our weaver’s practices and have them adopt the Tibetan knot, an ancient weaving technique that makes carpets supple, durable and softly compact. In a day where people are always looking for cheaper and more convenient shortcuts, Carini Lang takes the time to create works with integrity and craft.
Cut loose from the loom, the carpets are then trimmed and washed. Washed with a natural soap using local fruit-nuts, which is a gentle alternative to harsh chemicals that would otherwise strip our wool of its natural lanolin and require us to use artificial protectants. Each step of our process is designed to be authentic to traditional carpet making artistry, which emphasizes a natural production that is healthier for the environment, our artisans, and you. Now clean, the finished carpet is left to soak in the sun, and softly blowing wind, before it begins its final journey to your home.
Our carpets live and breathe life into homes because we have no choice but to follow our conscience and stay true to authentic practices, no matter how difficult it may be. In the end, it is worth it, when you walk on the carpet and can feel the sheep, the people, the hands and even the air that made each thread. That is a carpet that is alive. Times may be changing, technology may be rapidly advancing, but Carini Lang will remain constant, taking the time to make rugs the right way, the way they’ve always been done, with the people who’ve always made them. For those who do not settle, who want the authentic and real, they will find a like-minded friend in us.
