Photos: Training opens 'a window of hope' for traditional Albanian rug-weavers

Albania once had 13 former state-run factories that produced carpets, rugs, fez hats, folk costumes and other handicrafts. Kukes, a town northeast of the capital, Tirana, alone employed more than 1,200 women as weavers. When the country's communist era ended in 1990, the local factory closed. Hate Ora has been weaving carpets and rugs for more than half a century, since learning the craft as a child by sneaking into her aunt's workshop. Ora, 64, is now teaching the methods she picked up and perfected to her daughter, nieces and other younger women to ensure there is another generation of artisans to continue the tradition.