Wangden carpets
The "wangden" carpets I offer here are typical Tibetan and can be found nowhere else in the world. The technique may be the oldest weaving technique in Tibet and is still practiced in an area near Gyantse, called Wangden, especially in the village of Gabu.
Those Wangden carpets (wangden drumzi) in the old society were spread from this little village all over Tibet for the use in monasteries, especially for the Lama's thrones and the monks sitting row's carpets but also to meditationers in caves. The weaving technique is archaic and the carpets extremely thick and warm - ideal for sitting on the cold floor of caves or Tibetan monasteries.
Wangden carpets, because of their religious association were always (and are now) knitted by men - probably to keep away the "bad" female energies from the monks.
Below is a selection of carpets. Most of those have been sold and have to be ordered to be then woven by our Wangden friends and fetched in their village. This process will last a few month (!!!)- so that an order will arrive you only after half a year or so. This corresponds to the traditional way of buying a carpet in Tibet (similar to a Tangka) ... they were ordered/ commissioned and then done especially for you - and never offered in a shop for ready made sale.
This carpet weaving helps to protect traditional Tibetan handicrafts and supports a whole village of 8 families of Tibetan weavers!
If interested please let me know which design you like (use the numbers on the right side for reference) - and I will order after a small advance payment.
The sitting squares are usually around 150,00 EUR, the kha gdan (long bed size carpets) 280,00 EUR. (plus shipping! and those carpets are heavy!!!).
1 | small meditation squares, ideal to roll under your arm, take into the subway to your Dharma center ... this is the design of the most typical Wangden drumzi, with double dorje and fence (the red rim) |
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the back side of Wangden carpets | ||
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7 | very classical design, we found antique pieces exactly like that | |
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11 | also very classical chu mig (water spring) design | |
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16 | a real beauty, one of my favorites | |
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25 | with a medallion (tam ka), very classical | |
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27 | the design was usually used for runners and in the colors red and yellow ... here a variation of the traditional theme | |
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30 | Mandala design | |
washing of a new badge of carpets at the Lhasa river. | ||
and drying | ||
31 | my favorite (real German!!!) |
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the following carpets are chair carpets ... a new invention because we though everyone is sitting daily on chairs and they can be damn cold ... the come in sets of 4 or more. They are much smaller than the meditation squares and really just fit onto the surface of a kitchen chair. One piece is around 30,00 EUR, usually they are sold in sets of 4 or more. |
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Here some pictures of the Wangden project by Rup. |