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The driver places two peacock feathers on the dashboard for luck and safety as Karen and Don Mudd, proprietors of The Woodlands Oriental Rug Gallery, set off on another rug-buying adventure in India. Their goal is to discover new and antique hand-crafted rugs from far away places with mystical sounding-names like Jaipur, Agra (home of the Taj Mahal), New Delhi, Varanase and other towns along the Ganges River.

But, today, their ship has come in. After a journey of more than 8,000 miles that included transport from a camel-drawn cart to a giant ocean-going container ship, the rugs are finally arriving in The Woodlands. More than 850 of them are being stored and displayed in The Woodlands Oriental Rug Gallery at 1640 Lake Woodlands Drive in Pinecroft Center. The Mudds relocated their gallery here in 2004 after moving from Woodridge Plaza on I-45 across from The Woodlands.

It is a little-known fact that the Mudds and The Woodlands Oriental Rug Gallery are the largest direct importers of hand-knotted rugs in the Houston area. They say this enables them to offer hundreds of rugs in every size, shape, color pallet, and price range to enhance homes in The Woodlands. The 2009 collection features antique, traditional and contemporary designs.

Their India adventure was coincidentally timed with the recent terrorist attacks on Mumbai, a city hundreds of miles south of their rug-buying tour. The Mudds were fortunate not to be directly affected by the attacks, but, of course, it did affect the entire nation of India, as did Sept. 11 in the United States. As we now know, Mumbai went on to happier times with their recent Academy
Award coup for the movie featuring real Mumbai people and locations in Slumdog Millionaire.

The Mudds described India as a country of dramatic contrasts,

but one that is progressing in many ways. New toll roads made this journey easier than past trips. The roads, however, are still shared by hand-painted cars and trucks decorated with every color imaginable. Each truck proudly displays “Sound Horn” on the back, which makes for a very noisy journey. With the cities, the cars and trucks are joined by motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles and three-wheeler taxis —each weaving in and around each other with no apparent coordination.

In the rug-crafting villages, 80 percent of the men and 20 percent of the women are involved in creating the artisan products. It is estimated that 5 million people in India work in the rug industry. Most of the women have chosen to work in the farming fields or stay at home to care for their children. There are strict child labor laws here and the Mudds only deal with rug makers who belong to an organization called “Care and Fair,” which means that no child labor has been used in the making of their rugs.

And, the making of an Oriental rug is a labor intensive project, indeed, say the Mudds. They begin with as little as a paper sketch design by an artist. Then wools from sheep raised on plateaus are shaven and patiently spun by fingers, not machines. Natural dyes from the earth are poured over the wool in every color of the rainbow using processes that are centuries old. The wools are then hand-knotted by weavers who carefully follow the complex patterns created by artisans. The rugs are finished, shaved and washed by other traditional techniques. Each step adds new appeal, beauty and value to each rug. The rugs, once meant only for sultans and the royalty of Europe, then find their way to fine homes throughout the world, including those in The Woodlands, Houston and surrounding areas. Interested persons can travel with the Mudds on their India journey and keep updated on activities in the gallery on their “Flying Carpet” blog: www.woodlandsflyingcarpet.blogspot.com.