Kazak Carpets

Today I took the pleasure of viewing the oriental carpet collections at the department store 'John Lewis' and 'Olney Rugs'.

Being a specialist in oriental rugs Olney boasted the largest collection and I was impressed how the show rooms extended in a warren-like manner, each room filled with marvelous collections.

Today the carpets which caught my eye and focused my attention are those which claim their providence to the Kazak (also spelled 'Qazakh') tradition of carpet making. 

The dazzling and bold zig-zag patterns of these carpets could not fail to attract my attention and as I gazed upon them I was drawn in to the luscious quality of the woolen fibres. It would seem that the dyes used to produce the wool are not homogenous in colour saturation and this lends itself to an effect which adds a great deal of character to the general effect of the specimen.

It is my endeavor to learn more about this type of rug and to develop a working knowledge of understanding the iconography of the patterns as well as the construction processes and customs of the societies that weave them.

Leading from an informative study on this type of carpet it can be ascertained that the origin of the nominator 'Kazak' refers to a regional capital city in Azerbaijan named 'Qazax'.