12.04.2014

[E] is for [Expensive Rugs]


location // Kusadasi, Turkey

When I'm talking "expensive rugs," I'm not saying rugs that are hundreds of dollars. Nope, what we're looking at here is thousands and tens of thousands of dollars. I don't even think that "expensive" covers these rugs appropriately! 

But while I'm saying that the Turkish silk rugs are beyond pricey, I actually don't think that they're grossly overpriced. I mean, $10,000 is way more than I'm ever spending on something that I wipe my feet on (and if I ever become a millionaire and start to spend my money like this, someone give me a reality check, please.), but when we got an up-close and personal look at the amount of work and effort that goes into each and every rug, I began to see a little justification for the hefty price tags. 

Before boarding our cruise ship and leaving Turkey in the wake, we took a pit stop at a Turkish rug maker. Walking in, the first thing that caught my eye was a giant loom. Sitting in front was a Turkish woman that was dwarfed by the loom which she was threading. The particular rug that she was working on had been in progress for over a month and seemed as if it were barely even started! Each and every row of silk that she twisted and pulled into a future finished masterpiece was so intricate and complicated.

The next thing that we crowded around to catch a glimpse of was how the silk was gathered.  I can't even explain the process because I don't know the technical terms and I'm not about to make you read sentences like "and the worms were in this thing and then they spun it and then they used this other thing to get the silk and . . . " so you can probably google the process if you're interested. But it was really, really cool and all I could think of was how someone even invented this process.


Then we were given apple tea to drink as they unrolled like 30 rugs for us to see. Petting and stepping on the rugs were encouraged, so we all looked like we had dropped something in the carpet as we walked around hunched over with our eyes on the floor.


Overall, seeing the process of how Turkish silk rugs are made was really interesting. Would I ever buy one? No. Even though they are so beautiful and unique, do you know how many other things I could buy with a couple thousand?

Would I visit again? Yes! Because then I would get apple tea and maybe be able to pick up the lingo of silk gathering so I could explain it a little better.

I did not leave the rug place empty-handed though! I picked up a rug bookmark for only €3 which I totally thought was a steal until I found the same exact ones in the Turkish bazaar about 10 minutes later with a price tag of €1.

Oh well, I guess that I can say I bought an overpriced Turkish rug then.

Have you ever seen the process of rug making?

xx,
Allison

6 comments:

  1. I'm so, so, jealous that you're in Turkey! How long is your cruise? Are you stopping anywhere else? I'd never pay $10,000 for a rug, but I do agree that a lot of handwork goes into making them and that they're undeniably beautiful.

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  2. Wow! These rugs are awesome! $10,000+ is a little bit out of my price range (ok, a lot of bit out of my price range) but they are so pretty. The woman working at a loom for a month with little progress reminds me of a documentary I saw about making Steinway grand pianos. The piano's would sell for a million dollars (ridiculous), but it seemed more justifiable when I learned that it could take a full year to make one piano. So, I get it, and I have a lot of respect for the finished product, but I'm not buying a Turkish rug or a Steinway grand piano anytime soon.


    Oh, and that The Last Supper rug in the frame is crazy. So much detail! I want a Turkish rug maker tour!

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  3. I wish I were in Turkey! This is actually a va-cay recap from this summer! I'm (slowly!) doing an A-Z series of things that happened/that I experienced in Europe. When I get to Z, I'll finally shut up about the topic forever . . . maybe.

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  4. They were so, so pretty! Some of the larger rugs take more than 6 months to complete! So, same thing as the pianos. It's crazy that people can spend so long on just one product . . . that would drive me insane after a few months!


    And that Last Supper rug blew me away. I have no idea how they could make so intricate a pattern!

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  5. wowowow! those are some seriously gorgeous rugs! it's crazy how expensive they can be though, huh? i'm so jealous that you had the chance to visit turkey. sounds like an amazing opportunity!

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  6. They were stunning! I wish that I could have brought one home, but the €50 that I had in my pocket was definitely not going to cover one, haha. I was only in Turkey for a few hours, but I wish that I could have stayed longer. The culture was so noticeably different from any other place that I have ever been.

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