The Story
Afghan Interiors started life in a chance meeting on a plane over Uzbekistan, when Michael began talking to a Pathan tribesman from the Tribal Areas of Pakistan.
This meeting led to a consignment of nomadic hand-woven kelims arriving on our doorstep in Sydney, which we subsequently sold to our friends and wholesaled to various shops around Sydney. It paid for Michael to return to Pakistan and Afghanistan to buy more.
This led to a 16-year long quest for the unusual to stock our store in Sydney. As Michael ventured further afield and became more immersed in the culture of Central Asia, he discovered the work of more and more craftsmen and women – embroidery from Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, hand-blown glass from Herat in Southern Afghanistan, carved furniture and artefacts from the Swat Valley in Northern Pakistan, and the textiles of the Sindh desert.
However, the underlying aesthetic is the beauty of the hand made, the authentic, items that have taken time and consideration.
"It is the accuracy and detail inherent in crafted goods that endows them with lasting value. It is the time and attention paid by the carpenter, the seamstress and the tailor that makes this detail possible." Tim Jackson
Your custom at Afghan Interiors helps to support many craftspeople and their families across the Central Asian region. We have helped to establish Frontier Development and Support (FDS), a charity based in the North West of Pakistan. FDS is working to revive local skills in textile and carpet making.
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