We are in Selcuk for a few days ... off to Ephesus on Friday ... I will do a post later. We spent today visiting the ruins where John the Beloved wrote the Gospel of John and saw a baptismal font, seems like early Christians practised total immersion. On our walk we came across Barok Authentic Looms ... my interest was immediately captured by the women weaving outside ... I am a textile girl and I am always interested in materials, wool, pottery and any kind of authentic artisan type of creation ... of course I had to stop, look and take some photos.
Seeing these women at their looms reminded me of Aunt Julie and the weaving loom she had set up in her house when she lived in Mt Pleasant. Most of our family have a scarf that Julie has woven. Because of my association with Julie's weaving I was very interested in what these women were doing and how they were doing it.
While Pete and I were standing around watching, a sales assistant came up to us and explained to us about the Collective that these women are part of and how the store is part of a weaving guild. Pete was very interested in their business model and in how the company operated. We had been told by numerous people to stay clear of carpet salesmen, I was feeling very resistant and uncomfortable ... so I stayed out of the way and kept to myself ... aloof! I was convinced that we were being groomed for a sale. The next thing, I hear the salesman inviting Pete inside to have a closer look at their rugs ... I was waiting for Pete to say 'look no thanks, we don't have time right now but maybe we will come back tomorrow' ... code for 'no I am not interested and not buying.' But no ... Pete went in ... I was standing there thinking 'what!' ... I stayed outside watching the women weaving... I was loving what they were doing and the colours they were working with. About 5 minutes went by and no Pete so I hesitantly walked in the front door ... hanging round by the exit for a quick get away, if necessary. There was plenty in the entrance way to keep me interested ...
A display of colours and wool used in the weaving of the rugs the women work on. The collective has a policy that if the rugs are not sold by a certain time they pay the woman the price of the unsold rug.
The feel of the rug hanging on the wall was beautiful ... so soft! I am always going up to fabrics, wool or textiles of any sort, towels, sheets, pottery, etc, and the first thing I do is feel them. There is something about the feel of a garment or fabric that tells me if it is a natural product or man made. I do it a lot. Eventually I got brave enough to venture further in to the shop ... still looking for Pete. These photos are some of their rugs ...
Some traditional rug designs ... minus the arm in the photo.
WoW!
The man who Pete went in with found me beginning to wander further in and told me that Pete was upstairs talking to another sales man who had lived in Australia for a few years ... I was getting concerned by this stage and wondered, 'does Pete know what he is doing?!' I went upstairs thinking I have to rescue him, or, there is going to be an embarrassing quick exit from here any minute.
I found my way upstairs where Pete was with 2 men talking rugs ... the next thing I know this happened ...
Yes ... we did it ... we got ourselves a Rug from Turkey ...
We love it!
That is too funny!
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful!!
ReplyDelete