Steelcase Sells Rugs Created By Afghan Women

Posted by MCC on October 5th, 2009 at 07:00am

Designtex, a subsidiary of Steelcase will offer rugs that were made in Afghan  to designers here in the United States. A total of 43 women from nine different villages used new weaving looms to create rugs for the world’s largest office furniture company.

The 43 hand woven rugs are to be included in the new Common Threads collection that will go on sale sometime this fall. The deal between Steelcase and Arzu Rugs, Inc. will provide much more than just beautiful rugs that designers will use in their creations.

It will also help to enrich the lives of the Afghan women and girls through a fair wage and education. In the impoverished, war torn country, the women and their children struggle to survive. Arzu is a non-profit endeavor that was launched five years ago in the U.S. and employs women in the regions of Bamyan, Andkhoi and Kabul.

To work for Arzu, the women must sign an agreement that they will send all of their children to school until they turn 15 and they must take literacy classes. And, a woman that is pregnant or has a newborn, must be willing to accept transportation to medical care.

Under Furniture News