Guests at Istanbul Carpet Week, October 6-9, 2016, included international experts, designers and dealers, like me. The mission was to draw this core group back “home” to Turkey––where people have journeyed to buy and sell rugs since at least the 13th century.
We attended lectures on subjects like the Anatolian carpets of Transylvania, current design inspirations (think snowflakes and photographs), and the growth of online sales. We gazed at fragments of the oldest rugs on earth, dating to the 5th century, at heaps of carpets for sale in the Grand Bazaar and at the magnificent ceilings of Hagia Sofia. We also gorged on mezze, kebabs and Turkish delight.
A passion for beautiful carpets connected us all, but truthfully, the history of carpets is a human story, told and retold in tapestries of indigo, madder root, symbols and wool––just as it is each day at Archeo Gallery.
-Margit