{"product_id":"ikat-cushion-cover-adras-silk-green-red","title":"Ikat Cushion Cover · Adras Silk · Green\u0026Red","description":"\u003cp class=\"Normal tm5\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"tm6\"\u003eAn adras (silk and cotton) ikat cushion cover made in Margilan, Uzbekistan, using ‘abrbandi’, a UNESCO-listed Intangible Cultural Heritage resist-dyeing technique, where the yarns carry the design before the cloth is woven on a traditional loom. The result is a blurred, migrating pattern in green, red and ivory - a considered choice to anchor a room. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Normal tm5\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"tm6\"\u003eThe Craft. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eThe pattern on this cushion cover is created using \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"tm7\"\u003eabrbandi\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e - the resist-dyeing technique behind Uzbek silk ikat. From \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"tm7\"\u003eabr\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e (cloud), \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"tm7\"\u003eabrbandi\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e is said to have been born when a master dyer, watching clouds break apart on the surface of still water, tried to bind that fractured, drifting edge into thread. Before weaving, sections of silk thread are bound tightly by hand with fibre that resists dye. Where the binding holds, the thread stays undyed; where it doesn't, colour penetrates. Once the bindings are removed and the thread dyed, the pattern already exists in the yarn - it only becomes visible once the threads are stretched and woven on the loom. Producing a length of ikat fabric involves roughly 37 distinct stages, from raising silkworms and reeling silk from the cocoons through to binding, dyeing and weaving. Each stage is handled by a different specialist, so no single weaver completes a piece alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Normal tm5\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"tm6\"\u003eThe Heritage. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eSilk has moved through the oasis cities of now Uzbekistan for the better part of two thousand years. Legend holds that the first cocoons reached the Fergana Valley hidden inside the hollow staves of travelling monks, smuggled out of a China that fiercely guarded the secret of silk. By the tenth century, Margilan was already written of as a city of silk, and its weavers were sending \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"tm7\"\u003ekhan-atlas\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e - a shot silk prized for the way its colours shift with the light - down the caravan routes to Baghdad, Kashgar, Egypt and beyond. Covering alcoves or draped over bedding, the prestigious ikat fabrics became fashionable in the 19\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e century, when the designs turned vibrant and elaborate, and new weave structures, like satin and velvet, were introduced. The 20\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e century nearly ended the craft. Under Soviet rule, many of Margilan's master dyers and weavers were exiled, and \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"tm7\"\u003eabrbandi\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e came close to being lost along with them. It survived, and in 2017 UNESCO inscribed Uzbekistan's \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"tm7\"\u003eabr\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e silk-making on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"Normal tm5\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"tm6\"\u003eThe Maker. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eBorn in Margilan, in the Fergana Valley, Aziz Murtazaev did not train in a family workshop, but studied languages and business. He worked for a time in finance in London, and went back to Margilan for reasons closer to the dye vats than the ledger. It is colour that holds him. He works with what the valley grows and yields - madder root, pomegranate rind, walnut shell, indigo - steeping silk thread until it takes the exact red or blue he is after. Along the way he has brought back methods Margilan had mostly set down: block printing by hand, and the old finishing of silk with egg white, a technique few dyers still bother with. Aziz leads Marikat, a cooperative of independent ikat masters, dyers and weavers dedicated to the preservation of traditional craftsmanship and cultural values, and their transfer to the next generation. Aziz’s work carries the UNESCO Seal of Excellence for Handicraft Products.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Handmade in Uzbekistan","offers":[{"title":"Red","offer_id":53388069077258,"sku":null,"price":200.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Beige","offer_id":53388069110026,"sku":null,"price":200.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0711\/1013\/1978\/files\/Ikat_Adras_Cushion_Green_Red_04.jpg?v=1784545323","url":"https:\/\/omagoshop.eu\/fr\/products\/ikat-cushion-cover-adras-silk-green-red","provider":"OMAĜO","version":"1.0","type":"link"}