Tribal-KiliMs.com
Title
Antique kilims, tribal bags & other flatweaves - Anatolian, Caucasian, Central Asian & Persian
Description
How I Became Involved in Kilims
In 1961 I bought my first flatweaving and two storage bags in the rug bazaar in Kayseri, Turkey, thus beginning an avocation that would ultimately turn into another vocation. I was inspired to do so after seeing kilims in the apartments of career missionary doctors and teachers in Turkey. Kilims were virtually unknown to me as well as most Westerners at that time.
In 1976, I founded Turkana, which recently celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. Actually beginning in 1970, I unofficially began my business by returning to Turkey summers and to subsidize these trips (a strain on an academic's salary) I began buying kilims and rugs and selling them to family and friends. My growing interest in kilims coincided with their sudden popularity in the U.S. and the gallery soon became competitive with my academic and theatrical pursuits. From 1976 on, I traveled annually to Turkey on buying expeditions, as well as to Syria, Iraq, Morocco, Greece and Pakistan, and I staged exhibitions and presented lectures up and down the eastern seaboard. In 1977, I moved my gallery from the Berkshires to its present location in the Wall Street area of Manhattan.
By a strange series of events, I found myself pioneering a new area of weaving as kilims moved from being an unknown artefact to being a hot decorative item, to being a collectible tribal artefact. Gradually I specialized more and more in antique Anatolian kilims while still carrying outstanding examples of flatweavings from other weaving regions. I have built several large corporate collections including one for the New York Review of Books (now in private hands: the Anadolu Collection) and Liberty Life of Greenville, South Carolina (The Liberty Textile Collection). In addition, I supplied kilims, costumes, tent and storage bag artefacts for the permanent Asian Peoples exhibition at New York's Museum of Natural History. I have also helped to build numerous private collections, as well as supplying leading architects and designers with weavings for their projects.
Contact
Administrative:
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- London
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland NW6 3HD
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- 020 7604 4116
Registrant:
- Turkana Gallery
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- New York NY
- United States 10006
Additional Information
Related Domains
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- Uzbekistan