marketed, and tourism packaged goods,
how can we possibly say that purchasing a
carpet or kilim in Turkey could still be a
sane thing to do?
explain myself to visitors in our
shop, curious why a reasonably
intelligent woman chooses to
spend her days in a place which
sells lovely Turkish handmade
items, but face it, IS a carpet
shop, this is what I tell them. It's
the difference between art and
commerce.
traditional styles and patterns from the Anatolian peninsula
to the regions of the Caucasian and Central Asian
Republics. Spend a few days, wandering into shops, if you
can be left alone long enough to really look. You will begin
to see the difference between old and new, to recognize the
spirit, the lack of perfection, that makes art. We buy these
pieces a few pieces at a time, never from a factory.
(except for a certain absence of individuality, and the
likelihood of cheap and child labor in those factories).
But we love the character that comes from a piece
woven from the heart. Most of our pieces are at least
25 years old, often much older, made back in the day
when women learned the art of weaving at their
mother's knee.
these semi-nomadic tribal cultures
as floor and wall coverings, for
eating and praying and other
personal uses, and occasionally
for trade, like having a bank
account available to pay an urgent
bill. The wool yarns used are
handspun, using natural vegetable
dyes, not machine made, using
synthetic dyes.
