Tulus at Double Knot –

The New York City carpet gallery Double Knot has an interesting assortment of long-haired tribal carpets on their website — a la the detail shown above. This type of carpet has been on the periphery of my awareness for awhile but this is the first time I’ve actually taken a few moments to look for some history and definitions. For starters, the carpet shown above is referenced as a “Tulu” carpet and other web references link the word “Tulu” to Turkey in particular and to the function of the carpet as a sleeping mat. Complicating things, however, is another name for a similar long-haired type, the Konya “Yatak”. Konya is a region of Turkey, but I guess the carpets produced in this subset are called Yataks, not Tulus… I’m going to stop here since this is basically all hearsay at the moment. I’ll work on firmer definitions but in the meantime the carpets are worth admiring, whatever their title.

The Loaded Trunk –

A virtual trunk show awaits at The Loaded Trunk – !

via a helpful comment at The Style Files.

Pomegranate Textiles –

Another source for suzanis and ikats — as well as a few carpets.

Tribal Trappings –

Holy smokes, tribal trappings is a good website! It has lots and lots – and lots – of textiles (keep looking for the “more” button at the bottom of each page, I missed that the first time around). There’s also  interesting / informative detail given about many of the different categories of textiles shown. I’m enamored with several of the Chinese pieces, in part because they’re really expanding my idea of what a “Chinese” textile might be.  The image above is a Chinese bridal blanket made by the Maonan ethnic group.

Printed Cloth for the Bazaars –

Sara of 5 o’clock crows posted some great large-scale images (detail above) from the book Russian Textiles: Printed Cloth for the Bazaars of Central Asia by Susan Meller. I’ve seen the book in passing but now it’s officially on my wish list — what amazing color and pattern! (And might I comment on the coincidence of how color coordinated this detail shot is with my previous two posts!)

Alberto Levi –

This week’s New York Times review of the current New York International Tribal & Textile Arts Show (through this Sunday / wish I was there) lead me to the Alberto Levi Gallery website — quite a visual feast! The site is full of amazing images of a whole range of interesting textiles, like the 1950’s Berber carpet shown here There are also great contemporary carpets to pine over in the section on contemporary rug art.

Dots from Uzbekistan –

A little eye candy to end the day: a close-up of big dots with Rothko-like colors – and coloration – from Uzbekistan. Click here for an image of the full cloth, 1′7″ x 3′7″. And more on this topic later as I know I’ve seen some contemporary large scale patterns of this sort, just can’t put my mental finger on where and when.

From Peter Pap.

The Places In Between –

I finished a great novel this weekend: Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud. The weather was fantastic but I spent most of Saturday inside, powerless to resist the urge to keep reading “just a little bit longer”. Now that it’s over (both the book and the weekend, sadly) I’ve pulled another unread book off the shelf: The Places In Between by Rory Stewart, chronicling Stewart’s trek across Afghanistan in 2002. I’ve yet to read the first page but I’ll still use it as an excuse to highlight this beautiful Pashtun cushion cover featured on the website marlamallett. (The site is full of beautiful pieces for sale.) While this particular textile is attributed to the Swat Valley of Pakistan, Pashtun people are found in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Tribal & Textile Arts Show, Part II -

Here’s more eye candy from galleries represented at last weekend’s show. I found this image of a 19th century “Shakrisabyz Embroidery” on the Mehmet Cetinkaya Gallery’s website. (Gallery is located in Istanbul.) Below top is a close-up of the textile — I especially like the golden yellow ground color and the flowering branches floating around the central medallion.

2/15 Update: I’m traveling out of town, and away from my computer, until Tuesday of next week — I look forward to adding some good new posts starting again on 2/19 or 2/20!  

Koel –

After yesterday’s news-inspired post I thought of Pakistan — and the fact that I don’t really know what textiles are unique to the area, etc. Ah, the joys of internet research! With a few keywords I came upon the beautiful website of Koel, a company founded by Noorjehan Bilgrami — described on the site as an “artist, textile designer and researcher” who has helped revive handblock fabric printing in Pakistan. Above are a few images from the site.