9th Annual Jewel Heart Tibetan Carpet & Art Sale

This year's  Jewel Heart Carpet Sale will take place in the Forman House, 266 W Seneca Turnpike, on:

• Saturday, November 6th from 9am - 7pm
• Sunday, November 7th from 9am - 4pm

For more information about Jewel Heart, please visit their website, jewelheart.org.

Tibetan carpets are the product of a rich cultural tradition that has maintained its uniqueness, due to Tibet’s isolation from the rest of the world until the Chinese occupation in 1959. Sales from the carpet and art sale at the Zen Center benefit the carpet weavers and schools in India that are supported by Jewel Heart

Jewel Heart carpet expert Ujjen Tsewang, manager of their store, was forced to flee Tibet at a young age. Emigrating first to India and later to Nepal, he owned his own carpet exporting business from 1991 to 1997, exporting to Germany and the USA. He imports the carpets made by Tibetan weavers directly from Nepal, thus keeping costs unusually low.

Ujjen met Gelek Rimpoche in 1983 in India, and they realized that they are distantly related. Ujjen eventually moved to Michigan and began importing carpets for the Jewel Heart store. He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife and two children.

These handmade Tibetan carpets can be custom-made according to requests for particular colors and patterns, Ujjen says. “They are made of Tibetan wool by Tibetan refugees in Nepal. No child labor is used.” Sizes range from 2 by 2 feet to 14 by18 feet, and from 60 knots per inch to 100 knots per inch. The carpets are hand-knotted and colorfast. They can also be made with a combination of Tibetan wool and New Zealand wool.

Standard delivery time for custom-made carpets is approximately three to four months depending on knots. The best quality uses 100 knots per inch; complex designs require 100 knots. The sheep wool comes from Tibet, and the dyes used are from Switzerland. Due to the high quality of dyes used, the color will not be affected by any stain removal treatment, Ujjen notes.