Ikat fabrics are one of the most interesting part of Uzbek handmade craft.
Ikat, Adras, Abr.
Today
Central Asian IKATS have become very popular not only with collectors
but with fashion designers for who are turning to traditional Oriental
Art for original forms, materials and ideas to give new life to
fashionable clothes and interior decoration. The cultural exchange
along the Silk Route was very intense providing Europe and Asia with
luxury goods and silks from Bukhara and Persia. Discussion of ikats
immediately recalls an old fairy tale of a weaver who got bored with
making the same cloth all the time. He started inventing new patterns
by looking at clouds, reflected in the water. According to another
version a weaver spilt oil from a lamp in to a water pool and its
rainbow circles suggested to him unusual designs. Abr or Ikat fabrics
have an amazing variety and expressiveness of patterns and colourful
design. Any piece of old Abr looks like a canvas painted by a refined
colourist. The effect of abr dyeing when a design looks as if out of
focus, chance combination of spots, iridescent haloes and dark
vibrating contours of a design create the delightful illusion of the
play of colours.
