Color in Uzbekistan has deep cultural meaning. The traditional art of ikat weaving joyfully celebrates this connection with color. Traditional ikat patterns often use 4 to 8 different colors. Enjoy this mini-travelogue video (less than 1 minute) through the modern ikat world of the artisans of Uzbekistan. In these pandemic times, it's one of the best globetrotting adventures around. And you don't have to worry about masks, jet lag, or Zoom fatigue.
Aziz Murtazaev, the leader of Craft Studio IkatUz, provided this quick overview of the meaning of some of the most popular colors in Uzbek culture, from his home in Margilan, Uzbekistan:
"Green and blue colors are the most favorite colors in Uzbek culture. [NOTE: Check out the Uzbek flag at the beginning of the video.]
Green color is a symbol of nature, green flora. It is also the color, of Islam which is the dominant religion in Central Asia.
Blue color is associated with [the] blue sky, which symbolizes peace.
Purple is related to festive spring days and blossoming of fruit trees."
Aziz also generously provided all the photos of the ikat production process. You can see the artisans of Craft Studio IkatUz hard at work. These photos reflect only a few of the 37 different steps in producing one of our beautiful ikat scarves.
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Rikki Quintana
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