Fashion of Uzbek crafts, a tourist attraction with deep roots Kulpash Konyrova

The rebirth of craft traditional in Uzbekistan, which is becoming increasingly important in the daily lives of its people, has become fashionable in this Central Asian republic, which increases its tourist attraction for foreign interested in the native.

“Currently, we observe a trend of returning interest towards our origins. “It is a kind of awakening of the people.”comments Uzbek fashion designer Noilya Usmanova, who defends that traditional dresses “They are key to national identity.”

The traditional turned fashionable

This is a true revival of interest in the traditional in the countries of Central Asia, especially around the work of artisans, who use the same materials from centuries ago.

And in Uzbekistan – not even in Soviet times – they never stopped using the traditional chapan, a type of robe worn over clothing, with various ornaments; and the unmistakable tubeteikas, hats whose shapes are reminiscent of the yurts of Central Asian nomads.

If during the last century these garments were never considered archaic, now a true boom is being observed that reinstates them at the pinnacle of fashion.

Usmanova seeks to combine the Uzbek national style with the functionality and comfort of contemporary clothing in her dresses, proposing daring fusions of denim (denim) or modern-cut pants with chapan or abaya, a tunic used in many Muslim countries.

It all started during a walk through a market in ancient Samarkand, where she saw hand-embroidered pillowcases with floral decorations and pomegranate fruits.

“Since then these covers became the main detail of many of my clothes”he added.

The productions of his company, ‘Siluet.Meros, which has four boutiques in Tashkent, are in great demand in Uzbekistan and beyond its borders, with orders from Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Russia and Kazakhstan, among others.

Even the mother of the famous Elon Musk took a hand-embroidered ‘Siluet.Meros’ chapán, a successful company that has employed half a thousand Uzbek embroiderers.

Tashkent porcelain

The particular ornaments of traditional clothing that attract so much attention from tourists migrate to other media with equal success. The small market stalls offer a practically inexhaustible diversity of local porcelain that recreates the unmistakable motifs that give unity to national craftsmanship.

Teapots, trays, vases, fruit bowls, tableware sets that with their own image recall plov, the traditional Uzbek rice and mutton dish, to the point of not knowing where to look at so much variety.

Rustam Yekubov, owner of one of these small shops that supplies the products of his small family business, remembers that his parents worked in their time in a porcelain factory on the outskirts of the country’s capital, and he learned the secrets from them. of painting on clay.

“My pieces are very personal and very Uzbek at the same time. “They are like a brilliant national atlas on white porcelain,” says.

The many tourists who visit his store can not only buy the tea set they liked the most, but also have the opportunity to see Yekubov in the process of creating it.

The potter of Rishtan

The town of Rishtan, located in the Fergana Valley, about 200 kilometers southeast of Tashkent, can be considered the homeland of Uzbek pottery. Its origins date back to the 2nd century BC.

“Rishtan pottery is considered the best due to the particular composition of the clay. Not only is it ecological, but it is also the most ‘musical’“, Muhammad Rasul, a young 17-year-old potter, tells EFE, while with a light tap of his fingernail he makes a tray vibrate melodically.

Each piece, kneaded on the ceramic wheel by his firm and skilled hands, is a unique, unrepeatable work. And its art dates back to the times when merchant caravans traveled the Silk Road.

Now, Tashkent has converted one of its historic caravan-sarai, where merchants used to spend the night on their long journey, into a Pottery Center that not only sells its productions, but also offers workshops of this ancient art to visitors.

All of this acquires special relevance and impetus thanks to tourism. Uzbekistan received seven million foreign tourists last year, a figure it hopes to rise to 15 million by 2030.

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