The story of Nómada started a few years ago when a Scottish student of Architecture, Alistair Baird and Nerea Aguirre, a Librarian student at Granada University, met in Holy Island a remote island on the west coast of Scotland which had just been acquired by a Tibetan Buddhist community. Nerea and Alistair went to live in nearby Glasgow and soon started travelling together, often returning with antique textiles in their rucksacks. Alistair started to work as an Architect and Nerea opened Nómada in 1997 in Glasgow. In 2001 Nerea, a native of San Sebastián and her partner Alistair, tempted by the good life, migrated to the Basque Country and inaugurated Nómada in a spectacular shop in the Old Part of San Sebastián. The shop is located in the Calle 31 de Agosto, 24 between the historic churches of San Vicente and Santa Maria in one of the streets with the best pintxos (tapas) in San Sebastián. The shop is probably of medieval origin and conserves the austere stone walls and giant oak columns and beams. This relaxed environment is ideal for showing their fabulous collection of tribal kilims, carpets and textiles. Alistair also designs modern carpets woven by Tibetan refugees in Nepal. Nerea and Alistair travel regularly to Turkey, Iran and other carpet producing countries, always in search of antique tribal art, whether it is a carpet, a horse blanket, a baby cradle or antique beads and necklaces. Travelling to these countries and talking with dealers in the bazaars and nomads in the countryside gives them a firsthand understanding of the textiles they buy, knowledge which is later backed up through study of books and magazines. Travelling with an open spirit teaches not only about textiles but also about other ways of living and seeing the world...... The most memorable times in the trajectory of Nómada have been with Talish semi-nomads in the north-east of Iran near the Caspian Sea, spending various nights below the stars under the hospitality of Küccüclü nomads in the south-east of Turkey and feeling the cold of the mountain snows in the middle of June in a Shasavan nomad tent in the North of Iran, a few kilometers from the Azerbaijan frontier. Also memorable have been all those small moments of sharing a glass of tea or a plate of rice in friendly company. The tenth anniversary of Nómada in 2007 also stands out. On that occasion a Qashqai black tent was installed in the shop and an inauguration concert was given by the Iranian musicians Shahryar Zarrinpanjeh, grandson of the famous Iranian composer and musician Nasrollah Zarrinpanjeh, and Pedran Khosravi. We hope that through this web-page of our large and varied stock and through regular thematic exhibitions we can transmit our passion for the diverse nomadic cultures of the world.