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Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery Exhibit Features Wool & Silk's Afghan Rugs

3/14/2016

SMITHSONIAN'S SACKLER GALLERY EXHIBIT FEATURES WOOL & SILK'S  AFGHAN RUGS


A new Smithsonian exhibition explores the next generation of Afghani craftsmanship and rug designer Erbil Tezcan, founder of Wool & Silk Rugs, represents the show's Carpet Workshop with a selection of regional rugs.


 

WASHINGTON, DC -- Erbil Tezcan, award-winning U.S. rug designer and founder of  Wool & Silk, was asked to participate in a just-opened exhibit called Turquoise Mountain: Artists Transforming Afghanistan at the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery. 

Running through Jan. 29, 2017, the exhibit shares the story of the people, places, and heritage of Afghanistan, transforming galleries into an Afghan caravanserai (a traveler's inn). The recreated caravanserai is crafted from more than three tons of hand-carved Himalayan cedar including two 30-foot colonnaded arches and artisan stalls.

 
Designed specifically for the exhibition, the History Rug illustrates Tezcan's contemporary take on the rugs of Afghanistan. It combines motifs from 20 different Afghani carpets.  

Tezcan was asked to represent the show's Carpet Workshop and contributed a range of rugs from Wool & Silk's Afghan-made collections. He also designed a magnificent "History Rug" especially for the exhibition.

"I took elements from about 20 different Afghani rugs, but the challenge was to put them together harmoniously and to modernize them. It took about five to six weeks to design the rug and it took four to five months to construct it using extra weavers," Tezcan told RugNews.com.

"In the end it came out unbelievable and it will be on display on a special platform in the Carpet gallery. We used 27 different colors: it's unheard of in Afghanistan. Nobody did it before, and nobody will dare do it again," added Tezcan who will attend a special reception at the Sackler Gallery on Monday, Mar. 14, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

 
The Sackler Gallery's Turquoise Mountain exhibition features this Iranian Bidjar design woven in Afghanistan for Wool & Silk Rugs.
 
"These carpets are inspired by historic designs from places on the Silk Road: Khotanese designs from western China, Suzani designs from what is now Uzbekistan, Farahan designs from Iran, and Ottoman designs from the Ottoman Empire," Tezcan explained. "In addition to preserving the history that comes with these aged beauties, I try to rearrange patterns, colors, and even the scale of design to have them appear uninterrupted."

"The rugs being featured are crafted in Afghanistan, a country along the Silk Road between Europe and China. It is also one of the few remaining places where carpets, which can take up to six months to make, are still made completely by hand with natural dyes and wool from local sheep," he noted. 
 
 
Erbil Tezcan, founder and owner of Wool & Silk Rugs designed and arranged the Carpet Workshop at Turquoise Mountain: Artists Transforming Afghanistan at the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery. 

 

"As a Turk by birth and an American citizen by residency, I am fascinated by the journeys that people, materials and ideas make and the connections that emerge from such journeys," says Tezcan. "My work in Afghanistan is one such connection, stemming from a new Silk Road journey I have made. It's not comfortable--I sleep on the floor of the carpet workshop whenever I visit, and I have to be careful for my security--but by sharing hardship, I have a real bond with the weavers, dyers, and washers who make the carpets."


On display at the Sackler Gallery are Wool & Silk's Suzani rug, a Central Asian design, above, and an Ottoman Empire design from the Ottoman collection. Both rugs are woven in Afghanistan.

Turquoise Mountain, a non-governmental agency created at the request of the Prince of Wales and the president of Afghanistan, has transformed the Murad Khani district of Old Kabul from slum conditions into a cultural and economic center, renovating historic buildings, opening a primary school and a medical clinic, and rebuilding necessary infrastructure. 

In addition, it has founded Afghanistan's premier institution for vocational training in the arts, dedicated to teaching a new generation of Afghan artisans in woodwork, calligraphy, ceramics, jewelry design, and other crafts. And Turquoise Mountain: Artists Transforming Afghanistan explores that transition and showcases the next generation of artisans and craftspeople.


A Chinese design on display at the Smithsonian's Turquoise Mountain exhibit is a made in Afghanistan Khotan rug by Wool & Silk.

For more information, visit the Sackler's website. 

 

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