We have been busy! Remember the vendor induced shingles… well they (the vendors!) are being replaced on a war footing! These were not artisans but service providers who are just not up to the mark and consume vast amounts of our management time. First on the list is our payment gateway. We went with the biggest but have found them to have a shockingly poor interface and unresponsive to feedback. Our international clients have confirmed that they find the design (which we can’t change) confusing. Well they won’t anymore. The new payment gateway, Zaakpay, is much easier to navigate and should be live in a few days. Started by a young lady who clearly saw the opportunity to do it better and different. Kudos to her. Also we have just partnered with another young company, Gharpay, who are redefining cash payments in India – they certainly won’t be making the …
Welcome to Arastan
Arastan was an online store that curated rare and handpicked treasures from exotic bazaars along the ancient silk route. Unfortunately we ceased trading in early 2014.
You can read about the reasons for closure.
You can still browse some of the products we used to have via the category links above, although none of these are available for purchase.
Relive our travels and stories by browsing our articles and archives from the menus below.
Browse all our articles
- ►Creating Arastan (42)
- ►Craft Heritage (18)
- ►Afghanistan (1)
- ►Caucasus (7)
- ►India (8)
- ►Iran (1)
- ►Morocco (11)
- ►Thailand (2)
- ►Turkey (11)
- ►Turkmenistan (1)
- ►Uzbekistan (34)
- ►Events (12)
- ►Creating Arastan (42)
Browse our archives
- ► 2014
- ► 2013
- ▼ 2012
- ► December
- ► November
- ► October
- The Silk Route - India Today Home
- Banarasi Brocade, Mirzapur Carpets, Fantastic Samosas and some Soul-searching (Part I)
- Arastan Gift Cards
- Festive Carpet Offer
- Alisher Nazirov (Master Ceramist from Rishtan)
- Rustam Usmanov (Master Ceramist from Rishtan)
- Kaivalam to Iran: Antique Suzanis and Other Hand-crafted Treasures
- ► September
- ► August
- ▼ July
- ► June
- ► May
- ► March
- Fergana Valley: Ceramic, Ikat and Shavla
- The Tashkent Zoroastrians
- Bukhara in a Cold Sweat
- In Search of Zoroastrianism
- Happy Women and Mortifying Men
- Mosques, Mausoleums and Me
- Mobbed in Urgut and Stunned by Samarkand
- Beautiful Iroqi Embroidery and the Ak-Saray in Shakhrisabz
- Fabulous Suzanis, Terrible Toilets and Buzkashi
- To the South: Termez
- Exhausted (after orange lemons at Chorsu Bazaar and exquisite miniatures at Abulkasim Medressa)
- ► February
- ► January
- ► 2011
- ► December
- ► November
- ► September
- ► August
- ► July
- ► April
- ► March
- ► February
- Day 10: Windchilled in Bukhara!
- Day 9: Three Show Stoppers, 'I am a Disco Dancer' in Shakhrisabz, Rip-off in Bukhara
- Day 8: Ulugbek's Observatory, Registan and a Search Mission for Calligraphy
- Day 7: Mobbed in a Bazaar!
- Day 6: To Samarkand!
- Day 5 - Snow in Tashkent!
- Day 4: In Margilon – the land of Ikats!
- Day 3: Fergana to Rishton
- Day 2: To the Fergana Valley
- Changing Money in Uzbekistan
- Day 1: Valentine's Day in Tashkent!
- Eventful flight to Tashkent, Uzbekistan
- Visiting Master Craftsmen In Moradabad
- Getting Closer with Brand Identity...
- More Carpets Arrive...
- ► January