Welcome to Amdo Craft: the home of traditional Tibetan handicrafts.

Since 2001, Amdo Craft has been working with Amdo Tibetan nomads in Qinghai province. Producing such items as woven bags, braided slings, knitted scarves and felted decorations the Tibetan nomads are able to earn money to help with basic needs, such as the schooling of their children. Because of their parents success, young Tibetans are also learning traditional skills that might otherwise be lost. We love to see the preservation of Tibetan culture.

Currently, over 50 families work with Amdo Craft!

We are delighted to be able to offer these extraordinary Tibetan handicrafts online and in stores around the world. Thanks to your continued support and interest, children have received medicine, food and schooling and Tibetan nomad families are achieving never before imagined independence. Thank you!

Wool Care

Moths find wool fabrics extremely tasty. They will eat through other types of fabric and sometimes even plastic to get to it. To prevent moths from eating your woolen items, keep the wool clean. Brush your wool items on a regular basis with a fabric brush.

Hand Wash Wool Fabric

 

Clean wool fabric using a mild detergent in lukewarm water. Never use hot water! Do NOT use bleach. Bleach dissolves wool fabric. Completely cover the item in water and soak for 3 to 5 minutes. Gently squeeze to allow water to penetrate the fabric. Do NOT wring the garment. Rinse thoroughly with cool water to remove all traces of soap. Squeeze gently to remove excess water.
To dry, lay the item on a flat surface, reshaping if necessary and allow to dry away from direct sunlight and heat. Never put wool items in the dryer! The combination of heat, friction and pressure will cause shrinkage.

Pressing Wool Fabric

Set iron for WOOL setting. Add water to the iron. Always use steam heat when pressing. Never iron wool fabric dry. Squeeze gently to remove excess water. Do NOT wring the garment. Press item on the inside to avoid surface shine. Use a pressing cloth when top pressing. A clean white handkerchief or cotton cloth may also be used.

Wool Fabric, Clothing, and Blanket Storage

To prevent the invasion of the clothes moth, brush wool with a fabric brush before storing. Clean the items. Food stains, dirt and body oils attract moths. Dry cleaning or laundering kills moth eggs and larvae. Store cleaned wool fabric in airtight bags or containers with tight-fitting lids. Add mothballs to the container. Wool items will need to be aired out after removing from storage to remove the mothball odor.

About Us

Amdo Craft started in the year 2001 in Zeku County. Zeku County is identified as one of the poorest regions of Qinghai Province. It is located 300 kilometers south of Xining, on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau in Huangnan Prefecture. The high altitude and remote location present many challenges, such as extreme cold and harsh conditions. There is also a lack of infrastructure including schools, clinics and contact with resources available in the cities. The people are semi-nomadic Tibetans, who rely almost entirely on their animals for their livelihood, supplemented for some by the caterpillar fungus picking.

Current areas of our Wool Projects

Current areas of our production Sites

The Wool Project began after the government of Zeku County approached an international NGO about helping an exceptionally poor herding group. These nomads were part of a remote community and their only resource was the yak and sheep wool that they shear from their own animals. A textiles expert from Sweden developed this project in response to that request.

The people of Amdo Craft

 

The people of Amdo Craft

In the spring of 2001, the project was developed. An expert from Sweden researched the types of available wool as well as the local methods of working with wool. She then prepared a training program in order to teach local women to card, spin, weave, knit and felt with the wool. The training took place from the spring of 2001 until the summer of 2002. During this time, she made regular trips to teach the women, and to check on the work they were producing. By the summer of 2002, the women were beginning to create products that were marketable. The items were initially sold to the foreign community of Xining. Throughout the next year, product development and quality control were emphasized and real progress was made. The products were now at a level at which they could be sold in shops.
Creating these market opportunities has continued to be one of the challenges of the project. However, by spring of 2003, other individuals took over the management of the project. They continued to monitor quality control, and began to introduce more items to the line. By 2004, the women of Garong were very capable, and were producing products in abundance. The focus then shifted to finding more markets to sell the products. Soon enough that focus became a reality, as currently shops in Tongren, Xining and Beijing, as well as sites in the US and Hong Kong began carrying the line. In the fall of 2004, the local township government in a different area of Zeku county approached the project staff, asking for the same project to be done in their area. The wool project staff, with the help of local Tibetans achieved this request by training others to develop this skill set. As a result, production has been ongoing. In addition, groups of very poor families surrounding areas in Zeku have also started producing the handicrafts with care.

 

Amdo Cafe, where Amdo Craft products are sold

 

A Tibetan from the township where the project began is the main translator and source of information. She has a high school education, and is fluent in both Chinese and Tibetan. She has grown tremendously as a professional through the course of the project, as she has developed a great rapport with the local women and is able to enforce quality control issues and disagreements about money. She has also developed an understanding of which products; designs and fabrics are marketable overseas.
She now lives in Zeku, the county seat for the area. Despite her personal progress, she continues to see extreme poverty. Her eyes have been opened to the extent of poverty that is pending for the older generation, as many of the aging population no longer have herds to meet their food and clothing needs. She has also noticed an increase of women in need. As a member of the community, it has been very difficult for her to see many local women living on what they find in the garbage. In turn, she developed a vision of using the wool project to help these women and has taken measures to ensure that these women will be able to make a living. She has since set up a two-room workshop in the town of Zeku and managed to gain the wool project’s support. Ultimately, she has achieved her goal to employs several local women. Many of these women already had the necessary handicraft skills, but for those that did not possess the skills, she simply believed in them and took the time to teach them the skills that they would need in order have a better future.
She believes that within a year or two, the workshop could be self-sufficient. Her goal is to have a quality line available and for orders to be placed and in turn filled exactly as requested. Currently, women in all areas of Zeku are producing a great deal of products, enabling markets to develop rapidly. Although, growth is essential and appreciated, the organization understands that the quality of the work is key to their success. A process will remain in place to ensure that consistency is achieved by following the guidelines and training workers properly as new products are implemented.

 

 

Timeline

June 2005
Amdo Craft started selling wool project items in Tongren through a center for handicapped people. A wool expert from the States accompanied the project staff during several Amdo Craft trips. She lent a hand by training approximately 20 ladies in two villages in the Hainan prefecture. She trained the women largely in and felt making. As a result, these ladies are now producing high quality felted items.

2006
Amdo Craft started training participants in Tongde County, Hainan Prefecture. Presently, approximately 14 men and women in Tongde County produce many of the AmdoCraft products.

2007
Amdo Craft was set up as a wholly foreign owned enterprise. Expansion was apparent, as there was an increase in products made and sold in this year. Also, our official website was unveiled. We are now able to proudly exhibit the hand crafted products to individuals around the world. Please visit www.amdocraft.com to see the collections.

November 2008
Amdo Craft received the first prize Award for “innovation and design’ at the Qinghai Tourism Exhibition.

 

Store Locations

Qinghai, Xining: AmdoCafe, Ledu Lu nr. 19, 0971-8213127
Gansu, Gannan, LangMusi, AmdoCafe, 13893935425

We also sell our products in:

Gansu, Lanzhou, BroomTree Bookstore, AnNing, 0931-4559352
Shanxi, Xi'an, The Village Cafe, ShiDaLu, no. 32. 029-85222150

Contact us:

Qinghai, Xining:
AmdoCafe, Ledu Lu nr. 19
(East side of International Village/Guojicun),
0971-8213127
email: admin@amdocraft.com