Morels, walnuts and gemstones from the valleys, and the work of carvers, weavers and leatherworkers, bought from people we know and sold under the place each one comes from.
From wild morels and gemstones to rugs, woodwork and leather: nine products from the valleys and the country around them, each sourced to order. Choose one to ask about it.
Morels, called gucchi in the valleys, come up on the forest floor in spring after the snow. Families gather them by hand, thread them and dry them in the sun, and a good spring can matter more to a household than its wheat. We supply dried morels to chefs and importers; the wholesale page sets out the grades, the documents and how an order works.
Enquire about gucchi mushrooms
Nuristan's mountains are cut by pegmatite veins that give tourmaline at Paprok in Kamdesh, kunzite at Mawi in Du Ab and in Kantiwa, and aquamarine and morganite. Since late 2024 the province has sold its rough by open auction. We buy at first hand and sell rough or cut, with any treatment stated in writing.
Enquire about gemstones
Wool in the valleys is still spun and woven at home, as it was when all the cloth was local, and weaving was one of the crafts of the bari, the hereditary craftsmen of old Nuristan. We source rugs and woven pieces to order from weavers we know, and we tell you where and by whom each one was made.
Enquire about handmade rugs
Saffron is picked thread by thread from crocus flowers. It does not grow in Nuristan's valleys: Afghanistan's saffron comes from the west of the country, around Herat. We source it on request from growers we know and sell it under its own place of origin.
Enquire about saffron
Nuristan carves its houses, mosques and chairs in cedar and walnut, with horns, rosettes, chevrons and knots older than anyone can date. The carved chairs in these photographs are from our own collection. Ask us about a chair or a panel and we will find out what the carvers can make, and from what wood.
Enquire about wood
Necklaces, rings and earrings set with tourmaline, kunzite and aquamarine from Nuristan's mines. We name every stone and where it was mined, and we say plainly if a stone has been treated.
Enquire about artisan jewellery
Every village in Nuristan has its walnut trees, and the walnut is the province's best-known harvest. The nuts are picked by hand in autumn, eaten through the winter and sold down the valley, and more of them now go abroad. We supply them in shell or shelled, after the autumn harvest.
Enquire about walnuts
The pakol is a tube of dense woollen cloth closed by a flat crown and rolled up into a thick brim. It came over the passes from Chitral after 1896, and Nuristanis have worn it ever since, rolled high and pushed back. We source handmade pakols, not the factory copies sold online, as a single hat or a wholesale order, priced on request; our article on the pakol explains how to tell them apart.
Handmade pakol hats, single or wholesale
Bags, belts and shoes cut and stitched from hide by leatherworkers we know, made to order. Tell us what you need and how many, and we will come back with what can be made, how long it will take and what it will cost.
Enquire about leatherWe are not a webshop with a warehouse. Everything here is sourced to order, in season, from the people who make it.
The product, roughly how much, and where it would need to go. A single rug and a pallet of dried morels are different conversations.
Our team in Afghanistan works directly with the families who forage, weave, carve and cut. We find out what is available this season and at what quality.
You hear back from a person, with a straight answer on availability, price and how it would reach you. Nothing is sold that we have not seen.
A closer look at the goods on this page: morels and walnuts, a lilac crystal, a carved chair back, and wool, jewellery and leather.
Ready to plan a visit, source Nuristani products, or discuss an investment? Your message goes to Obaid, who is from Nuristan, and his team in Afghanistan and the UK. We reply to every message.