the central asian Suzani image

I was completely captivated by this image that I found on a textile blog, posted by Azizbek from Bukhara, I commented on its beauty and I asked what textile it is, and this “question” resulted in my soon speaking to him directly online in the very heart of the Ancient Silk Road in Uzbekistan. Thus our journey had begun and my connection with the fascinating and unique world of Central Asian Suzani Creation.

I became completely captivated by the story of Suzani as told by him during our communications

Bukhara to Cape Town Suzani Textiles was born

I have since been passionately involved in studying the history of Suzani and spreading appreciation of the Beauty of this ancient art and craft and its revival since their Independence during the early 1990’s when young girls were once again taught this craft practiced through the ages by their ancestors.

I receive visitors by appointment at my home to share Suzani Beauty with textile lovers,

or meet on Instagram or WhatsApp and also Facebook

My Background

I studied Textile Design and History at the University of Stellenbosch during the 70’s and It became my wish and dream since then to be able to do work that involves heavenly silk textiles. The Ancient Silk Road history captivated me and silk has held a special magical charm for me since childhood when I was captivated to watch silk worms eating mulberry leaves and later spinning their golden silky threads.

The wonder of colour and pattern observed in nature and art always played a major role throughout my life. Learning always more about Suzanis combines all these loves in a very unique way. Suzani and her “herstory” is the perfect platform for me to study this story of motifs, patterns and symbols over the centuries and to trace and learn and guess about the ever-changing messages they bring down to us.

My task is to tell the story about the creation of our suzanis

to love them and look after them and to promote them to find homes for each one worldwide

I am absolutely passionate about helping in keeping this embroidery art flourishing. To really understand the beauty of these Suzanis, you need to see them first hand, and this is possible here in my home. Bukhara is very isolated from the world and have relatively few outside visitors. I am proud to be able to spread the news about them worldwide from Cape Town, really at the opposite tip of the world.

This art can only be kept alive through international interest and buyers.

We have taken part in many exhibitions in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Hermanus

I am also building up my own unique private collection of Suzanis from Bukhara. I love showing and sharing them with interested visitors

It is my dream to find a suitable venue to exhibit this unique collection in future.

All the Suzanis are with me on consignment

I provide clients with the cost of Suzanis

The price of the postage is not included

We post Suzanis worldwide using DHL Services

buyers have to make all payments online in usd directly to Bukhara for their chosen suzanis please

His Background

Azizbek Gulyamov is the driving force and “director” behind all the beautiful Suzanis in our Cape Town Collection, and my dear friend for 12 years now since I first saw the image of the Suzani that he posted on a Textile Blog. We have since worked and travelled a long road together to share this Beauty to the world. I have the highest regard and respect for the body of work that he has achieved with his group of artists, and feel extremely privileged to be able to share them with lovers of true textile art.

Sadly since 2019 no future Suzanis have been commissioned and production has had to stop because the costs involved have become too high to produce these pure traditional Suzanis. Our Suzanis used only pure silk for embroidering and each Suzani was embroidered by one woman per Suzani.

Synthetic Suzani copies of our work, made in haste by groups of women for the tourist market has made it very difficult to market our beautiful expensive works of art. More and more affordable viscose copies and even printed works have flooded the market.

He grew up during the Soviet time and still lives in Bukhara, and has been passionately involved in the drive to revive Suzani embroidery since Independence during the early 90’s. While he was growing up traditional Suzani embroidery was strictly discouraged, in favour of machine made export embroideries. Families treasured their inherited Suzanis and women kept embroidering armlets to wear and to practice the age-old traditional embroidery skills they had learned from their mothers.

Since the Independence of Uzbekistan from Russia it has been a profound joy in Central Asia that women are free to embroider their traditional Suzanis and celebrate again the magic of true Central Asian Suzani creation.

In his childhood home embroidery work was highly cherished, and this memory enchanted and inspired him into doing the conserving work he does now to help keep this art alive.

After Independence he lived and studied in Germany for 8 years. Whilst living there he researched and furthered his knowledge of antique Suzani history and design online, in museums and in private collections around the world. He returned to Bukhara to set out on his dream and passion to contribute to the revived drive to create traditional Suzanis from as he called it “Noble Bukhara”

He built his own team over time. His inspiration and designs came from his research of antique Suzanis. He stresses that he interprets ( not copies ) this inspiration into new adapted beauties. A very important starting point was to find the best graphic designer to draw the designs on Adras, this takes immense skill. A Suzani can only be a success if the underlying drawing is perfect. Few artists are trained to do these very specialised Suzani design drawings. It was always the task of an older woman, called “the kalamkash” in the family who knew the family designs and secrets, to draw the underlying design of a Suzani for the embroiderer to follow.

Different graphic designers, mostly male artists have done this first drawing line work with Azizbek. They worked together to prepare the drawn on cloth for the embroiderers to then work her magic in needle and silk. It is also her art to decide the distribution and balance of the colours used.

The silks and Adras are still woven in bolts by families in home industries and has to be sourced. The silk threads are produced by other home industries and the natural dyeing and colouring of the threads is produced by yet another group. Each group keeps their age old trade secrets locked away from outsiders.

He had to search for suitable team of carefully selected older women embroiderers from the villages who learned the art of Suzani embroidery in craft schools after Independence, to do the hand embroidery for his Suzani projects. He insists that each individual Suzani is embroidered by one artist only, otherwise there is not a good consistency in the stitching. When a group of women work and stitch together on a Suzani it does not have this stamp of “a work of art “ to its name. The female world of real embroidery artists in the hill towns and villages is very secretive and private too and strictly controlled with its very own rules.

I have learned that it takes an entire very carefully chosen and highly skilled team to create each Suzani, and they all have to work together to let these interpretations of traditional antique Suzani designs come to life for us.

During the last 11 years of my involvement in this world of Suzani i have seen these contemporary silk artworks of incredibly high quality grow more beautiful and unique by the year. The more recent Suzanis are also “signed” on the back by their creator and artist to my great joy.

In 2013  I visited Uzbekistan, and the more I learn and discover about this ancient world of the Silk Road, the more it captivates me. I really need a few more lifetimes to explore and learn about only the smallest fraction of it. 

Having grown up in a time of machine woven and printed textiles, I am overwhelmed and inspired by these hand embroidered Suzanis with their exuberance, beauty, craft and elegance. Each one is an artwork, alive with unique history and energy. They do not follow the rules of design as I learned them at art school and yet each Suzani hangs together in her own perfect harmony.  It is utterly incredible that in this high speed technological time of distractions and lack of practicing "slow-time", that there are women who are still skilfully and patiently creating this pure traditional art and craft. I love the fact that women could and still do gain great respect and personal pride in her community through the excellence of her embroidered art work. This art form has always been held in the highest esteem in Central Asia.

Below are recorded interviews at the opening night of “Sewing Paradise” Suzani Exhibition at The Irma Stern Museum 2016

Photographing new arrivals.

From the time that the first parcels arrived in Cape Town from Bukhara with the neatly folded hand embroidered magic from the Silk Road, I realised that they will all find their homes quickly and I would not see them again. I wanted to record their beauty by having them photographed in a studio. First Justin Patrick helped me with this task and more recently Colleen Coppenhall.