SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan -- A portly man in a crumpled suit selling carpets in Samarkand's Registan Square says a lot about the changing face of former Soviet Central Asia.
In Soviet days sellers of anything would have been excoriated as capitalists and hounded from the square, a stately ensemble of Islamic architecture preserved for tourism.
But now -- in a typically post-Soviet reversal -- not only is Mohammed Ewaz Badghisi plying a once-forbidden trade, he is also reviving an ancient art of carpet weaving nearly extinguished by Soviet commissars.
"I want to recreate the carpets of the Silk Road," said Badghisi, referring to the medieval trade routes from China to Europe along which Samarkand was a major staging post.
"We are copying the design of carpets woven up to 500 years ago in Central Asia," said Badghisi, sitting by a wooden carpet loom and finished rugs in one of the Registan's old Islamic schools, Medrassah.
"I have also copied the design of a carpet hanging in the Hermitage museum (in St Petersburg) which is 2,500 years old,"he added.
Central Asia devolved from Soviet rule in 1991, giving birth to four new states -- Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Each has begun to fashion a new national identity, finding heroes from their own history to replace a pantheon of Soviet icons and reviving what remains of their national culture.
Before the advent of Soviet rule, carpet weaving was a way of life for those who lived in the deserts and mountains of this vast region bordering China, Afghanistan and Iran. For some, like the nomadic Turkmen, a rug was far more than an object of beauty. It was imbued with ceremonial and spiritual meanings and its design identified its owner's tribe.
Women often spent a lifetime weaving and men, it is said, were "born in a carpet and buried in a carpet." Bukhara rugs, woven by Turkmen and sold in the sacred Islamic city of Bukhara,won worldwide renown.
But under Soviet stewardship the art was nearly lost as nomads were settled, industry nationalized and carpet-making became a mechanized business turning out a shoddy product into a mass Soviet market.
When Badghisi, 58, an Afghan of Turkmen origin, heard of the Soviet Union's collapse he saw his chance.
Packing little more than his nomadic ancestors would have done, he migrated from northwestern Afghanistan to Samarkand in Uzbekistan with bundles of old rugs, his family and a score of weaving girls.
"Girls are better for working than boys. Hard work is interesting for girls," said Badghisi, speaking in broken English.
Samarkand authorities, quick to see potential profit, formed a joint venture with Badghisi which started in January last year with 40 employees, a ramshackle premises and a few wooden carpet looms.
The company,"Afghan-Bukhara-Samarkand," now has 150 employees and the 140 hand-woven silk carpets it has produced have quickly sold to the flocks of camera-dangling Western tourists who visit Registan Square.
One feature distinguishes Badghisi's carpets from all others made in ex-Soviet Central Asia -- his company uses only natural dyes. They remain vivid long after chemical dyes would fade.At Badghisi's factory on the outskirts of Samarkand, an employee stood stirring steaming vats of dye. Sacks of walnut shells and pomegranate peel lay nearby, and indigo and madder plants grew in the garden.
Silk thread was dipped into the vats, dried and then delivered to an upstairs room where rows of young girls earning a minimum of $10 a month wove the thread into looms.
Two of Badghisi's daughters and a daughter-in-law had nearly finished one exquisite carpet. About two square meters in size, it had about 1.5 million knots per square meter and had taken the three girls two years to make.
"We started it in Afghanistan. That carpet has a lot of memories for me," said one of Badghisi's daughters over supper in the courtyard of Badghisi's house
In Soviet days sellers of anything would have been excoriated as capitalists and hounded from the square, a stately ensemble of Islamic architecture preserved for tourism.
But now -- in a typically post-Soviet reversal -- not only is Mohammed Ewaz Badghisi plying a once-forbidden trade, he is also reviving an ancient art of carpet weaving nearly extinguished by Soviet commissars.
"I want to recreate the carpets of the Silk Road," said Badghisi, referring to the medieval trade routes from China to Europe along which Samarkand was a major staging post.
"We are copying the design of carpets woven up to 500 years ago in Central Asia," said Badghisi, sitting by a wooden carpet loom and finished rugs in one of the Registan's old Islamic schools, Medrassah.
"I have also copied the design of a carpet hanging in the Hermitage museum (in St Petersburg) which is 2,500 years old,"he added.
Central Asia devolved from Soviet rule in 1991, giving birth to four new states -- Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Each has begun to fashion a new national identity, finding heroes from their own history to replace a pantheon of Soviet icons and reviving what remains of their national culture.
Before the advent of Soviet rule, carpet weaving was a way of life for those who lived in the deserts and mountains of this vast region bordering China, Afghanistan and Iran. For some, like the nomadic Turkmen, a rug was far more than an object of beauty. It was imbued with ceremonial and spiritual meanings and its design identified its owner's tribe.
Women often spent a lifetime weaving and men, it is said, were "born in a carpet and buried in a carpet." Bukhara rugs, woven by Turkmen and sold in the sacred Islamic city of Bukhara,won worldwide renown.
But under Soviet stewardship the art was nearly lost as nomads were settled, industry nationalized and carpet-making became a mechanized business turning out a shoddy product into a mass Soviet market.
When Badghisi, 58, an Afghan of Turkmen origin, heard of the Soviet Union's collapse he saw his chance.
Packing little more than his nomadic ancestors would have done, he migrated from northwestern Afghanistan to Samarkand in Uzbekistan with bundles of old rugs, his family and a score of weaving girls.
"Girls are better for working than boys. Hard work is interesting for girls," said Badghisi, speaking in broken English.
Samarkand authorities, quick to see potential profit, formed a joint venture with Badghisi which started in January last year with 40 employees, a ramshackle premises and a few wooden carpet looms.
The company,"Afghan-Bukhara-Samarkand," now has 150 employees and the 140 hand-woven silk carpets it has produced have quickly sold to the flocks of camera-dangling Western tourists who visit Registan Square.
One feature distinguishes Badghisi's carpets from all others made in ex-Soviet Central Asia -- his company uses only natural dyes. They remain vivid long after chemical dyes would fade.At Badghisi's factory on the outskirts of Samarkand, an employee stood stirring steaming vats of dye. Sacks of walnut shells and pomegranate peel lay nearby, and indigo and madder plants grew in the garden.
Silk thread was dipped into the vats, dried and then delivered to an upstairs room where rows of young girls earning a minimum of $10 a month wove the thread into looms.
Two of Badghisi's daughters and a daughter-in-law had nearly finished one exquisite carpet. About two square meters in size, it had about 1.5 million knots per square meter and had taken the three girls two years to make.
"We started it in Afghanistan. That carpet has a lot of memories for me," said one of Badghisi's daughters over supper in the courtyard of Badghisi's house
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