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Handmade rugs
and their codes
from Armenia
A new way to shop for Armenian rugs, decode their meanings, and support
their rural creators
Improvisia:
Our First Collection
Introducing Improvisia, our very first collection designed and handmade in the Zangezur Mountains of Armenia’s Syunik Province. Combining traditional ornaments with modern designs and bold colors, each flat weave of Improvisia was designed spontaneously and collectively by a community of women based in Verishen village – no predesigns or drawings. Each piece is handwoven to order using the highest quality local wool that's dyed naturally.
Rug Code
Collections
Local Wool | Naturally Dyed
Handmade to order in rural Armenia
We curate our rugs from Armenia’s top rural weavers, the original coders, bringing them and their creations the visibility they deserve.
The Rug Code
Historic Armenian rugs have information and messages coded into every knot. These messages, represented by ornaments woven into designs, come to us from the distant past, a time long before the code languages of computer technology today.
The Rug Code is an online shop delivering handmade rugs and their coded meanings from Armenia. We’re proud to bring you beautiful designs while supporting the rural weavers who create them, preserving this ancient craft and decoding the meaning of each rug.
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Meet The Coders
Before there was programming, and before there was writing, there was weaving. Weaving was the original code, used by the peoples of the Armenian Highlands to express stories and ideas about cosmological myths, ancient beliefs, and cults.
These weavers, or coders, as we like to call them, carry on Armenia's 4,000-year-old weaving tradition today, imbuing the fabric of their creations with their stories, experiences, and spirit. By shopping The Rug Code, you support them directly by providing them with meaningful employment, while also keeping this age-old practice alive in Armenia’s villages.
Milena Ordiyants
Collective: Goris Handmade
Goris, Syunik Province
"When I see an Armenian rug, with its colors and ornaments, no matter where it is, I feel Armenia. I feel my Armenianness. I feel warmth. You feel like you’re in Armenia. It calls you, it pulls you in."
Ani Muradyan
Collective: Goris Handmade
Goris, Syunik Province
"You weave a rug with different emotions, and you put those emotions in the rug. A rug contains the energy and nature of the weaver, their experiences. The weaver is inside the rug."
Anush Arzanyan
Collective: Goris Handmade
Shinuhayr Village, Syunik Province
"Weaving has been all but forgotten in Armenia. Young people do not want to weave. But I love it. When I complete half of a rug I say 'Glory to God! I weaved half of it!' Always. 'Oh Lord God, thank you.'"
The Decoded Blog
Sacred symbols, the elements, cosmic bodies, divine creatures, animals, plants, humans, stories real, and fantastic. They’re all woven into Armenian rugs, transmitting information and energy to those who possess them. We’re decoding them all.
