2 large Eggplant 1 large green Capsicum 2 medium brown Onions 1 cup Passata sauce 2 cloves of garlic 1 cup Greek Yogurt 1tsp Chilli pwd Olive Oil Salt Tbsp fresh Corriander Cut Eggplant into circles and sprinkle with salt, put in a colander & leave for 30mins or more. Put Yogurt in […]
Alchemy was the dyers’ magic prior to our modern knowledge of chemistry. “Today a turquoise from your plain wool, tomorrow pure gold from your old coppers.” Englishman Richard Hakluyt belonged to a “Middle Temple” and sent a dyer to Persia in 1579AD with the written instructions…“In Persia you will find carpets of coarse thrummed wool, the best […]
Circa 8,000 BCE First domestication of the sheep in Luristan SW Persia Off-loom textiles such as felt, knitting, and macrame. 7,000 year old jars of wine found in the Zagros Mountains. Early loom technology. By Circa 5000 BCE Wool was being dyed and woven. Circa 3,000 to 500 BCE. Elam. The first great Persian Empire. […]
A short flight out of Istanbul found us braving a series of bracing frosty mornings in the villages of mountainous western Anatolia. A picturesque setting worthy of a travel brochure with whitewashed buildings and sinuous cobblestone alleyways. Vegetable dye guru Harald Boehmer was taking a knot of keen international ruggies through his beloved traditional weaving […]
Sonia Delaunay, who has my vote for most influential artist of the 20th Century, wrote, “we are only at the beginning of the study of these new colour relationships, still full of mysteries to unravel, which are at the base of a modern vision…..there is no going back”. Her Zen-like “simultaneous contrast” is a good […]
ON FORTUITY – THE RANDOMNESS OF COLOUR CALLED ABRASH ” I tend to reflect that handmade objects….give off a life force, an indefinable resonance, that mechanically produced objects cannot match” Giles Auty, in The Australian. And Jon Thomson …” It was an education for me to witness the amazement and disbelief of an educated Persian […]
Two things. First, traditional handmade wool carpets are a function of altitude. Second, the value of most carpets is related to the level of feminine involvement in the weaving process. The first statement may seem self evident as higher, colder altitudes demand the warmth and insulation of wool. A point is reached with rising latitudes […]
The Timeline dates below are the Gregorian Calander, CE. 570 Birth of Prophet Muhammad, Makkah 610 Muhammad’s first revelation 622 Muhammad & Muslims emigrate to Madinah; Year one of the Muslim Calender 630 Muslims return to Makkah 632 Death of Muhammad. Beginnings of Shia, the supporters of Ali bin Abi Taleb, Muhammad’s son-in-law, and one […]
The history of weaving is like this rug. In the beginning there was Neolithic Cave-stylised animals followed by millennia of design development. The sophisticated Persian Rug we see today has been perfected for over two millennia, with ethnic and commercial additions becoming part of the rich history. Here we see the Neolithic animals in the […]
I watch a scene completely surreal in appearance, but firmly rooted in practical science. Bejewelled, unveiled and kohl-eyed tribeswomen chatter in surroundings as modern as tomorrow: Men with white coats and hairnets move about behind the glass, checking temperature gauges on metre-diameter stainless steel vats. The haughty women exude a brash confidence, mistresses of their […]
On the roofs and in the yards of family homes all around the village area of Lahore, Pakistan, Kelims are being woven in various modern stripe patterns with the most vibrant vegetable colours. Looms are simply made from local wood or bamboo and secured to the ground with large tent pegs. A very basic setup, […]
Have you ever been asked if you have a favourite period or epoch you’d like to return to by Time Machine? Well I like Timurid Herat, 15th century for its balanced intellect. Horticulture was just as important as astronomy and mathematics. Try to imagine the English cottage garden without hollyhocks. Viewing the paintings of the […]
