Afghanistan · Feltwork / Embroidered Felt
نمده (Namdah)
Namdah (نمده) is the Afghan felt tradition — distinct from Central Asian shyrdak and kigiz in combining plain white felt with both surface embroidery and painted floral decoration in a single object. Herat namdah uses a specific resist-dyeing approach for the painted elements: a wax resist is applied before dyeing to produce white flowers on a colored ground — the same resist principle as batik applied to felt rather than fabric. The defining technical knowledge is the wax penetration test: 'the wax must go through the felt, not sit on top of it — if the wax is on top, the dye will go underneath.' Wax penetration through felt thickness is the standard.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Afghanistan national ICH list
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