Tuesday 29 April 2008

Oriental Carpets Return To Natural Dyes But Fabled Insect Reds Remain Forgotten

CHAHARMAHAL District, Iran; May 2, 2008 – When Iranian photographer Javid Tafazoli was walking through a weaving village in the mountains of Chaharmahal va Bakhtiyari province, far to the west of Isfahan, he saw an arresting sight.

It was a cascade of recently dyed red wool hanging from a tree. In a world grown used to dazzling garish colors, the mellow brick-red shades looked like a startlingly natural part of the landscape. He snapped the picture and entitled it simply “Red.”



The same picture could be taken in many villages in Iran today, where weavers are increasingly returning to using natural dyes. They hope that going back to traditional materials will raise the quality of rugs and the value people put on them.

But if there is a new desire to derive red from age-old sources such as the root of the Red Madder plant, which gives brick-red hues ranging from pink to rose to scarlet, another ancient groups of reds seems certain not to return. They are the once famous insect reds.

For centuries, dyers dried and powdered insects to produce colors ranging from pink-lilac through bright crimson to deep-brown-purple. In many areas where the dyes could not be produced locally, they were prized imports.

The first insect dye to be traded in large commercial quantities was Indian lac, derived from the Caccus lacca bug. The insect, which feeds on ficus trees in India, was also a source for lacquer and shellac used on furniture.

The fame of Indian lac grew so great that it was exported over huge distances. In their authoritative book ‘Oriental Carpets,’ Murray L. Eiland and Murray Eiland III say the dyes have been detected in Safavid and Ottoman court carpets as well as on 19th century Turkmen rugs. That is despite the fact that madder was the standard and abundant source for red from Turkey to Central Asia region.

Later, lac gave way to still higher quality reds obtained from the Indian’s bug’s distant cousin, the South American cochineal. The cochineal reds -- traded in the Aztec and Mayan empires and still used in Mexico and Peru (below) -- were discovered by Spanish conquistadors in 1519.



The Europeans considered cochineal to be a perfect red dye because it is stable, easily absorbed by fabrics, and extremely resistant to fading.

The brilliant red comes from the carminic acid in the body of the female cochineal larva, which also makes the bug unpalatable to predators. The Spanish bred the bugs for size and color and created huge ranches of cactus – the bugs’ favorite home. To produce a kilogram of the dye required some 155,000 dried insects and, by 1770, at the peak of the trade, Mexico was exporting some half a million kilos a year.

The global business in cochineal dyes is documented in the 2005 book ‘A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire’ by Amy Butler Greenfield.

Eventually, the Spanish expanded cultivation of the bugs to the Canary Islands and North Africa. But the lucrative business finally came to an end with the invention of chemical dyes in northern Europe in the mid 19th century. Within decades, cochineal red, along with madder, virtually disappeared from use under a tide of synthetic replacements.

Now, in a world saturated with artificial colors, natural dyes are slowly making a comeback. But, in a strange twist for the carpet industry, the once so abundant and highly sought cochineal dyes remain forgotten. The reason is economics.

After they were swept from the textile industry by synthetic dyes, cochineal reds – also known as carmine – found a new and more profitable place in the cosmetics and food coloring industries. Today carmine is a high-priced specialty dye that puts the red in red pistachio nuts, maraschino cherries and Italian aperitifs. Its advantage over man-made red dyes is that it is not toxic or carcinogenic.

That means that making a rug with cochineal dyes today would cost a fortune. The giant cactus farms in Mexico may still exist and the dyes may still be exported, but carpets with insect reds belong to the past.

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Related Links:

Wikipedia: Cochineal

A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire, by Amy Butler Greenfield.

Book: The Red Dyes: Cochineal, Madder And Murex Purple: A World Tour of Textile Dying by Gosta Sandberg

Wednesday 23 April 2008

BISHKEK, April 25, 2008 – When one imagines the vast steppes of Central Asia Felt, yurts and felt carpets come quickly to mind.

It is from sheets of plain white felt that yurts are built, and it is with colorfully patterned felt that they are decorated inside. The result is a warm and cheerful shelter that served Central Asia’s nomads well for thousands of years.

So, it can be a little disappointing for felt enthusiasts to arrive in modern Bishkek and hardly find a yurt, or even a felt, in sight.

In Kyrgyzstan’s capital city -- population about one million -- yurts today are only set up in the garden of someone’s home when a family member dies. The lady of the house faces the tent wall and the mourners come to sit behind her and sing a dirge. She finally turns to face them when they come to touch her shoulders and comfort her.

Even in the marketplaces it is hard to find felt. The carpets for sale are machine-made ones of the kind available anywhere in the world.

Janyl Chytyrbaeva, a Kyrgyz journalist, explains why. “Everyone wants a house like you see on TV,” she says. The machine-made carpets are given as gifts at weddings and funerals and most people’s apartments and houses are covered with them.

Does this mean that felt has disappeared from Kyrgyz life? No. But like so many traditional handicrafts elsewhere, it is endangered and its only protectors are poor people and artists.

Chytyrbaeva, who is herself a great admirer of felt, says the only place to find it in use in Bishkek is where the poorest migrants from the countryside have settled on the outskirts of the city. There, they cover the floors with plain felt mats or with patterned Shyrdaks (Shirdaks, Shurdoks), which are carpets made by sewing together felt of different colors.

Both kinds of felt carpet make warm flooring in a country where the winters are bitterly cold. For additional warmth, laborers’ families will also put sheepskins here and there on top of the felt. Sometimes, the sheepskins are themselves made as kind of shyrdaks by stitching together variously dyed pieces.

Still, if these furnishings seem humble, the ancient felt-working tradition of Kyrgyzstan itself is rich. Skilled felt-makers can produce pieces of effortless sophistication and great art just as readily as ordinary villagers make plain felt floor mats.

Highly complicated Shyrdaks are created by cutting the same design into several sheets of brightly colored felt and then switching and refitting the pieces together like jig-saw puzzles.

The flowing and harmonious patterns, filled with symbolism, complement the unstructured texture of the felt. With additional techniques, including appliqué, more detailed designs become possible.

Kyrgyz felts are gradually gaining a place in the Western market, yet they still remain little known compared to the other great textiles of Central Asia: the red pile rugs of Turkmenistan or the Suzanni embroideries of Uzbekistan.

A handful of rug importers are scouring the Kyrgyz countryside for artisans but many more Western businesses seem content with just importing Kyrgyz-made felt slippers and hats or, more recently, stuffed toy animals.

That seems modest for a nomadic culture that in many ways was unique. The Kyrgyz, who live in a mountainous country, migrated up and down their slopes with the seasons while most of their steppe neighbors wandered widely across the plains.

Today, they can date their presence in the mountains to thousands of years ago and have many traditions all their own. That includes the design of the national flag. It is the only one in the world that has at its center a stylized representation of the roof of a traditional yurt.

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Related Links

FeltRugs Company, Britain
http://www.feltrugs.co.uk/

Shirdak Silkroad Textile Company, Netherlands
http://www.shirdak.nl/

Kyrgyzstyle Company, Kyrgyzstan
http://www.kyrgyzstyle.kg/production/shirdaks/index.htm

Photos of Kyrgyzstan: Jonathan Barth
http://www.barthphoto.com/Kyrgyzstan.htm

YouTube: How Nomads Make Felt (Mongolia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ0uojUHYdA

keywords: Shyrdaks, Shirdaks, Shurdoks, central asian felt carpets, Kyrgyzstan, nomads, oriental carpet design and production, Bishkek, steppes, central asian rugs, central asian carpets, felt carpets, felt rugs
BISHKEK, April 25, 2008 – When one imagines the vast steppes of Central Asia Felt, yurts and felt carpets come quickly to mind.

It is from sheets of plain white felt that yurts are built, and it is with colorfully patterned felt that they are decorated inside. The result is a warm and cheerful shelter that served Central Asia’s nomads well for thousands of years.

So, it can be a little disappointing for felt enthusiasts to arrive in modern Bishkek and hardly find a yurt, or even a felt, in sight.

In Kyrgyzstan’s capital city -- population about one million -- yurts today are only set up in the garden of someone’s home when a family member dies. The lady of the house faces the tent wall and the mourners come to sit behind her and sing a dirge. She finally turns to face them when they come to touch her shoulders and comfort her.

Even in the marketplaces it is hard to find felt. The carpets for sale are machine-made ones of the kind available anywhere in the world.

Janyl Chytyrbaeva, a Kyrgyz journalist, explains why. “Everyone wants a house like you see on TV,” she says. The machine-made carpets are given as gifts at weddings and funerals and most people’s apartments and houses are covered with them.

Does this mean that felt has disappeared from Kyrgyz life? No. But like so many traditional handicrafts elsewhere, it is endangered and its only protectors are poor people and artists.

Chytyrbaeva, who is herself a great admirer of felt, says the only place to find it in use in Bishkek is where the poorest migrants from the countryside have settled on the outskirts of the city. There, they cover the floors with plain felt mats or with patterned Shyrdaks (Shirdaks, Shurdoks), which are carpets made by sewing together felt of different colors.

Both kinds of felt carpet make warm flooring in a country where the winters are bitterly cold. For additional warmth, laborers’ families will also put sheepskins here and there on top of the felt. Sometimes, the sheepskins are themselves made as kind of shyrdaks by stitching together variously dyed pieces.

Still, if these furnishings seem humble, the ancient felt-working tradition of Kyrgyzstan itself is rich. Skilled felt-makers can produce pieces of effortless sophistication and great art just as readily as ordinary villagers make plain felt floor mats.

Highly complicated Shyrdaks are created by cutting the same design into several sheets of brightly colored felt and then switching and refitting the pieces together like jig-saw puzzles.

The flowing and harmonious patterns, filled with symbolism, complement the unstructured texture of the felt. With additional techniques, including appliqué, more detailed designs become possible.

Kyrgyz felts are gradually gaining a place in the Western market, yet they still remain little known compared to the other great textiles of Central Asia: the red pile rugs of Turkmenistan or the Suzanni embroideries of Uzbekistan.

A handful of rug importers are scouring the Kyrgyz countryside for artisans but many more Western businesses seem content with just importing Kyrgyz-made felt slippers and hats or, more recently, stuffed toy animals.

That seems modest for a nomadic culture that in many ways was unique. The Kyrgyz, who live in a mountainous country, migrated up and down their slopes with the seasons while most of their steppe neighbors wandered widely across the plains.

Today, they can date their presence in the mountains to thousands of years ago and have many traditions all their own. That includes the design of the national flag. It is the only one in the world that has at its center a stylized representation of the roof of a traditional yurt.

#

Related Links

FeltRugs Company, Britain
http://www.feltrugs.co.uk/

Shirdak Silkroad Textile Company, Netherlands
http://www.shirdak.nl/

Kyrgyzstyle Company, Kyrgyzstan
http://www.kyrgyzstyle.kg/production/shirdaks/index.htm

Photos of Kyrgyzstan: Jonathan Barth
http://www.barthphoto.com/Kyrgyzstan.htm

YouTube: How Nomads Make Felt (Mongolia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ0uojUHYdA

keywords: Shyrdaks, Shirdaks, Shurdoks, central asian felt carpets, Kyrgyzstan, nomads, oriental carpet design and production, Bishkek, steppes, central asian rugs, central asian carpets, felt carpets, felt rugs

Central Asian Felt Carpets Search For Their Place In The Modern World

BISHKEK, April 25, 2008 – When one imagines the vast steppes of Central Asia Felt, yurts and felt carpets come quickly to mind.

It is from sheets of plain white felt that yurts are built, and it is with colorfully patterned felt that they are decorated inside. The result is a warm and cheerful shelter that served Central Asia’s nomads well for thousands of years.

So, it can be a little disappointing for felt enthusiasts to arrive in modern Bishkek and hardly find a yurt, or even a felt, in sight.

In Kyrgyzstan’s capital city -- population about one million -- yurts today are only set up in the garden of someone’s home when a family member dies. The lady of the house faces the tent wall and the mourners come to sit behind her and sing a dirge. She finally turns to face them when they come to touch her shoulders and comfort her.

Even in the marketplaces it is hard to find felt. The carpets for sale are machine-made ones of the kind available anywhere in the world.

Janyl Chytyrbaeva, a Kyrgyz journalist, explains why. “Everyone wants a house like you see on TV,” she says. The machine-made carpets are given as gifts at weddings and funerals and most people’s apartments and houses are covered with them.

Does this mean that felt has disappeared from Kyrgyz life? No. But like so many traditional handicrafts elsewhere, it is endangered and its only protectors are poor people and artists.

Chytyrbaeva, who is herself a great admirer of felt, says the only place to find it in use in Bishkek is where the poorest migrants from the countryside have settled on the outskirts of the city. There, they cover the floors with plain felt mats or with patterned Shyrdaks (Shirdaks, Shurdoks), which are carpets made by sewing together felt of different colors.

Both kinds of felt carpet make warm flooring in a country where the winters are bitterly cold. For additional warmth, laborers’ families will also put sheepskins here and there on top of the felt. Sometimes, the sheepskins are themselves made as kind of shyrdaks by stitching together variously dyed pieces.

Still, if these furnishings seem humble, the ancient felt-working tradition of Kyrgyzstan itself is rich. Skilled felt-makers can produce pieces of effortless sophistication and great art just as readily as ordinary villagers make plain felt floor mats.

Highly complicated Shyrdaks are created by cutting the same design into several sheets of brightly colored felt and then switching and refitting the pieces together like jig-saw puzzles.

The flowing and harmonious patterns, filled with symbolism, complement the unstructured texture of the felt. With additional techniques, including appliqué, more detailed designs become possible.

Kyrgyz felts are gradually gaining a place in the Western market, yet they still remain little known compared to the other great textiles of Central Asia: the red pile rugs of Turkmenistan or the Suzanni embroideries of Uzbekistan.

A handful of rug importers are scouring the Kyrgyz countryside for artisans but many more Western businesses seem content with just importing Kyrgyz-made felt slippers and hats or, more recently, stuffed toy animals.

That seems modest for a nomadic culture that in many ways was unique. The Kyrgyz, who live in a mountainous country, migrated up and down their slopes with the seasons while most of their steppe neighbors wandered widely across the plains.

Today, they can date their presence in the mountains to thousands of years ago and have many traditions all their own. That includes the design of the national flag. It is the only one in the world that has at its center a stylized representation of the roof of a traditional yurt.

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Related Links

FeltRugs Company, Britain
http://www.feltrugs.co.uk/

Shirdak Silkroad Textile Company, Netherlands
http://www.shirdak.nl/

Kyrgyzstyle Company, Kyrgyzstan
http://www.kyrgyzstyle.kg/production/shirdaks/index.htm

Photos of Kyrgyzstan: Jonathan Barth
http://www.barthphoto.com/Kyrgyzstan.htm

YouTube: How Nomads Make Felt (Mongolia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ0uojUHYdA

keywords: Shyrdaks, Shirdaks, Shurdoks, central asian felt carpets, Kyrgyzstan, nomads, oriental carpet design and production, Bishkek, steppes, central asian rugs, central asian carpets, felt carpets, felt rugs

Tuesday 22 April 2008

Central Asian Felt Carpets Search For Room In The Modern World


use faces the tent wall and the mourners come to sit behind her and sing a dirge. She finally turns to face them when they come to touch her shoulders and comfort her.

Even in the marketplaces it is hard to find felt. The carpets for sale are machine-made ones of the kind available anywhere in the world.

Janyl Chytyrbaeva, a Kyrgyz journalist, explains why. “Everyone wants a house like you see on TV,” she says. The machine-made carpets are given as gifts at weddings and funerals and most people’s apartments and houses are covered with them.

Does this mean that felt has disappeared from Kyrgyz life? No. But like so many traditional handicrafts elsewhere, it is endangered and its only protectors are poor people and artists.

Chytyrbaeva, who is herself a great admirer of felt, says the only place to find it in use in Bishkek is where the poorest migrants from the countryside have settled on the outskirts of the city. There, they cover the floors with plain felt mats or with patterned “Shyrdaks” (Shirdaks, Shurdaks), which are carpets made by sewing together felt of different colors.

Both kinds of felt carpet make warm flooring in a country where the winters are bitterly cold. For additional warmth, laborers’ families will also put sheepskins here and there on top of the felt. Sometimes, the sheepskins are themselves made as kind of shyrdaks by stitching together variously dyed pieces.

Still, if these furnishings seem humble, the ancient felt-working tradition of Kyrgyzstan itself is rich. Skilled felt-makers can produce pieces of effortless sophistication and great art just as readily as ordinary villagers make plain felt floor mats.

Highly complicated Shyrdaks are created by cutting the same design into several sheets of brightly colored felt and then switching and refitting the pieces together like jig-saw puzzles. The flowing and harmonious patterns, filled with symbolism, complement the unstructured texture of the felt. With additional techniques, including appliqué, more detailed designs become possible.

Kyrgyz felts are gradually gaining a place in the Western market, yet they still remain little known compared to the other great textiles of Central Asia: the red pile rugs of Turkmenistan or the Suzanni embroideries of Uzbekistan.

A handful of rug importers are scouring the Kyrgyz countryside for artisans but many more Western businesses seem content with just importing Kyrgyz-made felt slippers and hats or, more recently, stuffed toy animals.

That seems modest recognition for a nomadic culture that in many ways was unique. The Kyrgyz, who live in a mountainous country, migrated up and down their slopes with the seasons while most of their steppe neighbors wandered widely across the plains.

Today, they can still date their presence in the mountains to the very beginnings of Turkic history. Many other Central Asian cultures came and went as the great empires of the steppes rose and fell. But the traditions of the Kyrgyz remained largely their own.

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Related Links

FeltRugs Company, Britain
http://www.feltrugs.co.uk/

Shirdak Silkroad Textile Company, Netherlands
http://www.shirdak.nl/

Kyrgyzstyle Company, Kyrgyzstan
http://www.kyrgyzstyle.kg/production/shirdaks/index.htm

Photos of Kyrgyzstan: Jonathan Barth
http://www.barthphoto.com/Kyrgyzstan.htm

YouTube: How Nomads Make Felt (Mongolia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ0uojUHYdA

Monday 21 April 2008