The Rug Weavers

The Rug Weavers

Imadol, Nepal

December 2017

It is dusk when I walked in to this factory. By the time I leave this dank, cold building, it is completely dark outside and poorly lit inside. But that does stop any of these women from doing their work.  They sit quietly and count to themselves as they intertwined wool around the warp of the loom and follow the difficult pattern that dictates their every move.

An old woman sits on the bench by herself.  She has occupied this bench for 34 years.  Her fingers are bent with arthritis. She stoops towards the loom,  She squints as her yes move from the pattern to the warp.  She has been here for hours today.  But there is no indication that she is quitting any time soon.  She pulls out a long strand of wool from the ball on the floor. There is more to be done today. 

When I speak to the owner, he tells me that most of these women "just work 8 to 9 hours a day,"  But some work up to 11 or 12 hours a day.  They start right out of 10th grade and stay with him for as long as their family issues allow it. Most of these women learned to weave from their mothers.  And they will teach their daughters to weave. And there will be long stretches of time when the two generations will work together. And then, before they know it, another generation will seep in to this rug factory.