Its been said a few times, the question of why I go by the nom de plume of "turkishknot'. Interesting conundrum, of course I am not Turkish, I am Scottish. But, I have lived in Turkey for many years cumulatively since 1982, probably 5 in total. Which doesnt sound like a lot. However, I studied Turkish at the "school for spies" in London, SOAS, at London University for 2 years under the most brilliant Turkish scholar Margaret Bainbridge and altogether marvellous Professor Menage ('a un) neither of whom gave me an inch of license. It saw me well and I learned the language ideomatically, the culture I learned from living in Istanbul in the '80's, and through an impossibly gorgeous woman called Guzel Hanim, an exiled white Russian emigre Lady in her bloomage, what a trip she was. Every session of conversation we had we punctuated with a Vodka intermission, each time some new arcane flavour I'd never hear of, but tasty none the less. Tongue lubricated we'd talk of everything from food to political parties. God rest you Guzel Hanim, you educated me in so many ways, thank you ! And so I have no idea why turkishknot became my nom de plume, but it did, and from thence my love of Turkish Rugs.

Well, this isnt about rugs but I feel it needs to be said. So here we are with an environmental disaster of epic proportions and seemingly no way of stopping it. The containment chamber didnt work, heck I could have told them that, and perhaps they should have watched the John Stewart show last week on Comedy Central, he showed on air how it wouldnt work. So now, just heard this on the news .... they are going to fire a trash ball into it, to try and stop the leak, heck you just coudnt make this kind of comedy up, you have to hear it to believe it and then wonder what kind of goons BP has for its technical execs. Of course they don't want to lash out too much cash on it, after all a mere $1/2 million dollars would have prevented it with a kind of automatic shut off, but here in the USA our STUPID STUPID STUPID politicians and their crony lobbyists quashed that in favor of Halliburton/BP having to lay out extra cash for Safety. So why can they accomplish safe drilling (if there is such a thing) in the North Sea (a very hazerdous environment) and not here ? Halliburton is also complicit in, altho' the jury is still out, of a massive spill off the Great Barrier reef in Australia, and now somewhat responsible also in this disaster. BP made more than $5 billion profit in the last quarter alone, methinks its time to take "them" to the cleaners as well. What say you ?

The Turkish Carpet Company Khal Mohammedi rugs. I just acquired one from a wholesaler and I am very impressed. Its a 9 X 7 foot (approx) rug and weighs an impressive 45 pounds. Once I have it photographed I'll post it on here. Khal Momammed is a an Afgan man, he is Turkoman Esari and his family was from Uzbekistan originally. 

He and his workforce are prolific weavers with several looms in Afganistan probably HQ'd in
Mazar i Sharif. The upshot is, his style is very distictive, with very impressive results from natural dyes in dark reds and blues.
Well, this is a new rug (10-15 years old) and unused, a lot of so called "unused" Afgan rugs I have received from dealers are clearly not, and very very dusty ie. having been laid out for some time, take it from me Afganistan is incredibly dusty. This is not, its beautifully made and constructed. Technically, approximately 80 KPSI Turkish knots, wool on wool with 1 inch kilim weaving at each end, excellently bound 2-cord selvage overcast with black goat hair. I have tested the wool and to the best of my knowledge this is naturally dyed. The pile is thick and cut to 1/4 Inch length, exceedingly dense weaving which occasions its impressive 45 pound weight. The 12 medallions in the main field are unquestionably Esari as is the main border of Stepped Gables. Throughout the main field and even in the Gables are interestingly Uzbek motifs. Overall a superior work which will grace any floor.

The Turkish Carpet Company Next thing on my mind and concurrently with other projects, is a blog on the TTCC web site. I am going to try and make it interesting with facts and info about rug making, how to tell good from bad, differences between hand-knotted and mass produced, and some tips on how to spot a fake chinese rip off from a genuine Turkish rug ....and a whole lot more.
And the Blog is here now.

The Turkish Carpet Company There is a gnuine shortage of "genuine" Turkish hand-made rugs. I have even noticed that Turkish dealers are carrying Afgan, Uzbek and Pakistani rugs but what they are selling as "Genuine" Uzbekistani "Bokhara" which are fabulous rugs, are instead made in Afgan refugee camps just across the border in Pakistan somewhat ...lifeless and nothing like the feel of a genuine "silky" feeling wool Bokhara.

The Turkish Carpet Company So according to todays borse pricing its worth $2311.00 wholesale in Turkey, I am selling for $2500.00 but if you add 15% wholesaler markup, 8% Turkish export taxes, and probably $250.00 shipping and insurance, the wholesale price is now $3308.00. Makes my $2500.00 look pretty good huh !

The Turkish Carpet Company Its the recession, wholesale Quality handmade Turkish/Oriental (new) rugs are down in price, a year ago standard "wholesale' prices for dealers was $300 per square metre, now its down to $200.00, which is ridiculously low. I'll give you an example. I have a 13 foot by 8 foot palace size Anatolian rug, its stunning on t...he floor, exceptionally heavy and first class workmanship.