Carpets are the crowning glory of traditional Turkmen handicrafts. Yes, they make special jewelry here and other things but above all, the quality and labor intensiveness of the traditional Turkmen carpet stands out. There can be 400,000 knots in a single square meter of a Turkmen carpet! To see how carpets are made at a carpet factory in Ashgabat, click here. Turkmen carpets were first discovered in Bukhara markets in the 1880s and were exhibited in Russia and around Europe under the name of Bukhara carpets and the name still sticks in the United States. There are five tribes of Turkmen and each tribe has its own traditional designs. The largest tribe is the Teke who inhabit the area around Ashgabat. For this reason, most of the carpet you get to see here are of Teke design. I would estimate that 80 percent of the carpets I see here are Teke, 10% are Yolmut (the tribe that inhabits the Caspian Sea area of the country, 5% are Beshir carpets (the tribe living near the Amu Darya River) and 5% are other. The category of other includes carpets from the three other tribes of Turkmen, Afghan carpets, Iranian carpets, Pakistani carpets, and various knock offs of all of the above. So what do you do if you want to buy a quality Turkmen carpet? First, be careful. If the quality is too good (i.e., if the carpet is over 30 years old), you are forbidden to export it. I know what you are thinking but forget about it. Turkmenistan is a country that searches the luggage of people leaving the country. They dont much care what you bring in.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 21:16:27 +0000
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