Hadrut women are said to have a special virtue besides others – almost all of them are fond of knitting and are masters of the craft. Varya Stepanyan and Liana Arustamyan are no exceptions. Varya lived in the town of Hadrut, working as a nurse in a children’s hospital, and Liana is from the village of Taghaser of Hadrut district. She used to work as an accountant at the Artsakhles state non-profit organization. Each of them had their space for love, joy, cares, troubles, small victories and failures. But one day, the women left the past in their homes and headed for Armenia in total uncertainty.

“Everything happened at the speed of lightning,” Varya says. “We were leaving our homes for uncertainty, vagueness, in fact, going nowhere.” “We left our homes in slippers and home-wear, without knowing where we were heading for. At that time, we just needed to save ourselves,” adds Liana.

The paths of the women who hadn’t previously known each other crossed in Yerevan. The idea of creating Nakhshoon Hadrut, a new brand of knitted production, brought them together.

They came up with the very idea during a friendly talk with two other women –   Executive Director of the Hadrut De-Occupation NGO Meri Davtyan and poet and songwriter Anita Hakhverdyan. The idea came to life with the support of Aurora Humanitarian Initiative.

Both Varya and Liana and other six Hadrut women involved in the project have a vast experience in knitting. According to Varya, her grandmother taught her the craft and she’s been doing it since she was 15 years old. The clothes assortment in shops was scarce back then, but they always wanted to dress fashionably and tastefully. This is how the young girl started knitting dresses, jackets, vests, coats, and shawls. Now Varya knits for her grandchild Arman who was born in Armenia.

The first sample of the new brand’s merchandise is a traveling patterned rug from wool, made by Liana Arustamyan. The second similar rug is half-ready, and it’s knitted by Varya. And then come tippets, shawls, mantles…The small but creative team can imagine and create endless variations of craft works.

The monotony of the knitted canvas is only interfered by one ornament – no excess, nothing tasteless. “We use eternal symbols of Armenian rugs in our works. What can be more beautiful, modest and at the same time more eloquent and wiser than these patterns symbolizing nature, family and faith?”, says Anita Hakhverdyan.

Hadrut women are also said to have another virtue besides others – they can create a special atmosphere in their homes, they know how to warmly welcome guests and to see them off. It’s hard for people to give up their habits. Maybe that’s why they create warm and cozy things here, far away from their homes.

“Nakhshoon” ( “beautifully decorated” in Armenian) gives off a somewhat festive vibe, full of brightness and elegance. The very phrase “nakhshoon Hadrut” takes one to the lands with wonderful flowers, trees, bushes growing everywhere – in planes, on the slopes of mountains and twisted serpentines. The women convey all this beauty through their works, strongly believing that some day the fate will bring them back again to their deserted homes and hearths and a ray of hope will re-ignite in every hearth.

 

Note

• The “Hadrut De-Occupation” NGO was founded in December 2020. The organization focuses on three main areas – political, legal and social-cultural. The main goal of the organization is to bring the issue of Hadrut district of Artsakh to the table of negotiations and to return the residents to their homes. One of the goals of the organization is advocating for the preservation of historical and cultural monuments in Hadrut.
• The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative has allocated AMD 1.3M (USD 2,500) to support the Nakhshoon Hadrut brand.

Eleonora Malkhasyan