Traditional Afghan carpets now fill Madrid’s Rastro, connecting 250 families in Surkh Aqcha to Spanish buyers. The business adapts ancient weaving to modern tastes, reshaping livelihoods and interiors across continents.
Carpets woven in the Afghan village of Surkh Aqcha now cover the floors and walls of Madrid’s Rastro, crossing continents and decades of upheaval along the way. What started as a way for families displaced by war to survive has become a steady source of income for nearly 250 households, thanks to one shopkeeper’s effort to connect two distant worlds.
Abdul Hakeem arrived in Spain with little Spanish and no contacts. Today, he runs Tailak, a two-story shop where traditional Afghan patterns sit alongside bold, custom designs. His business does more than sell carpets—it supports an entire community back home, where weaving is often the only way to earn a living. For every square meter woven, Afghan women earn $80. Men handle washing and dyeing, earning $100–$300 a month. The shop’s shelves, stacked with intricate textiles, are the visible end of a supply chain that begins in family courtyards and backyard workshops thousands of kilometers away.
По данным BBC, в последние годы тысячи афганских семей были вынуждены покинуть свои дома из-за массовых депортаций и изменений в стране после прихода к власти талибов.
Demand in Madrid has changed the craft itself. While classic oriental motifs remain, about 60% of Tailak’s carpets are now made to order, shaped by Spanish tastes and requests from film set designers. Some pieces have appeared in Pedro Almodóvar’s “La habitación de al lado” and “Julieta,” as well as in the upcoming miniseries “El problema final.” The route from Surkh Aqcha to Madrid is complicated: carpets travel by road to Kabul, then by air to Dubai or Istanbul, and finally to Spain. Each order can take up to three months, with prices ranging from €120 to €300 per square meter.
Hakeem’s path has not been easy. Forced to flee Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion, his family spent years in a Pakistani refugee camp before returning to their village, where weaving was a necessity. When Hakeem moved to Spain in 2008, his first attempt to sell carpets in Barcelona failed. Only after relocating to Madrid’s Rastro in 2009 did he find support from local shopkeepers, who sent customers his way and helped him get started. Today, Tailak has a second location in Chueca and works with a growing network of designers and decorators.
The business relies on local Afghan wool, traditional looms, and a division of labor: women weave, men handle processing. The workshop in Surkh Aqcha, opened in 2013, now employs around 50 men for washing and dyeing, while nearly a quarter of the village’s families are involved in weaving. Hakeem estimates that 70% of his stock comes from Surkh Aqcha, with the rest sourced from other regions.
Согласно коммерческим каталогам, афганские ковры из Кабула и других регионов часто экспортируются через Дубай и Стамбул, что подтверждает сложную логистику доставки подобных изделий в Европу. Однако прямых подтверждений по Tailak и Surkh Aqcha в открытых источниках не найдено.
For the families involved, the stakes are high. Sakhi Haji, a veteran of the Surkh Aqcha workshop, says more investment could transform the region, where skilled artisans often lack steady work. The contrast with other migrant labor stories is clear: while some foreign workers in Spain face exploitation and poor conditions—as reported earlier—the Tailak model sends profits directly to Afghan households, offering a rare example of ethical cross-border trade.
Madrid’s interest in Afghan carpets is more than a matter of taste. It shows how migration, entrepreneurship, and cultural adaptation can reshape both economies and identities. Hakeem’s success comes from hard work and community ties, not charity or nostalgia. His carpets now decorate Spanish homes, businesses, and film sets—a sign that traditional crafts can survive and even grow far from their origins. In a market often dominated by mass production and middlemen, Tailak’s approach is notable for its transparency and direct impact.
