Indian rug – Navajo rug replica, 33″ x 65″, $149
This wool Indian rug replicates the classic period Navajo Chief blanket. Traditional Navajo blankets design theme and colors are utilized: red, black, white and gray. A Navajo Chief Blanket design theme is simple; and may include full or partial diamonds or stepped blocks, serrated zigzags and stripes or bands, and an occasional cross or whirling log.
Due to the steady increase in demand and value, in recent years, of Navajo rugs; Nepal weavers, indigenous to India and Tibet, began successfully replicating Navajo textiles; and produce a high quality reproduction, but at a much lower price than a truly authentic Navajo rug or blanket. The Tibetan-Nepalese weavers also have an old tradition of textile manufacture. The first written evidence of weaving in Nepal, is in the Indian sources of the Asoka period, in the second century AD. The rug weaving industry spread around Nepal in 1959, when 15,000 Tibetan refugees settled in Nepal, especially inside the Kathmandu Valley. Master weavers from Gyantse, the best carpet making area of central Tibet, who settled in Nepal eventually taught their skills to others, resulting in an increase in production of high quality hand-woven rugs. By mid 1970, the rug weaving business was firmly established and continues to grow today.
