Carpet Weaving from Afghanistan

Resources

Video see websiteMillennium Development Goals Activity

Small handloom

Afghan Carpet patterns

Islamic DesignsActivity Plan

Show pupils the video about the work of Afghan Action in Kabul. This video shows views of the carpet workshop and has interviews with the trainees.

You can run the Millennium Development Goals Activity here. This activity is downloadable from the website. Pupils learn about the MDGs and carry out an activity which evaluates how Afghan Action is helping to meet them.Have a look at the pattern used for carpet design in the Resources- Art section of the website. Each tiny square is a knots tied by hand. In Afghanistan carpets are made by tying individual knots of different colours to make patterns. The video shows the speed the trainees work at. After a row of knots has been tied across the loom these are held in place by a weft (horizontal) row across the warp threads of the loom.

We bought our looms from Great Art (online) at very reasonable prices.

Students can research Islamic patterns online, from books, or from carpet designs to create their own design for a carpet.