HALI NEWSLETTER No. 462

[View this email in your browser]( DOMOTEX asia/CHINAFLOOR 2024 is fast approaching! The leading flooring show in the Asian-Pacific region, hosting 1600 exhibitors across eight halls, will return to the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai from 28-30 May 2024. 'Our show is the only dedicated international event in the region which assists the flooring community to tap into new opportunities all over Asia', explains Thomas Baert, co-founder and co-organiser of the event. Various leading companies in the industry such as Classen, Oriental Weavers, Paulig, Standard Carpet, Voxfloor (Carpet) and Zimmer (Carpet Tech), have already confirmed their participation at the 2024 edition. More than 150 international buyers and several buyer delegations will be hosted at the upcoming edition of the show. Selected buyers will benefit from a range of benefits including free accommodation, access to a dedicated lounge, free access to all onsite events and seminars as well as various entertainment. [Register and find out more.]( Following the success of Lars NygÃ¥rd and Jan Eskeland’s Baluch exhibition in 2023 (see HALI 215), the professional/collector ‘rug buddies’ have co-curated a second show at Blaafarvevaerket, Nyfossum, featuring more than 100 kilims and flatweaves from their collections. Founded by royalty in the 1770s, by the 1840s the Blaafarveværket was the largest industrial company in Norway, supplying 80 percent of the world’s cobalt pigment. In 1968, work was begun to transform the collection of dilapidated buildings into one of Norway’s most visited tourist attractions. Nyfossum formerly comprised the residence of the technical director of the Blaafarveværket and is now an art museum. The exhibition opens tomorrow, 11 May, and will run until 22 September. Would you believe us if we told you this robe is made of fish? The singular and rare fish-skin garments crafted by the Nivkh people of northeast Asia are explored by Andreas Marks in our most recent issue, [HALI 219](. 'The Nivkh were hunters and fishers who harvested materials available to them in the coastal region. Nivkh women turned to the skin of chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) or Amur carp (Cyprinus rubrofuscus) to make intricately patterned and technically complex garments for special occasions. The skin was removed in one piece and then dried, kneaded and moistened in fish soup until supple. The result is a lightweight material that is also water and wind repellent and durable.' Image: Woman’s fish-skin festival coat (hukht), Nivkh people, Russia, ca. 1900. Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2023.93.1, gift of Thomas Murray in honour of Dr Andreas Marks. There is still time to book your place on the Greater Anatolia Rug and Textile Study Tour, offered by The Black Tent Project and HALI, and held from 23 May–5 June 2024 just ahead of the International Conference on Oriental Carpets (ICOC XV) in Istanbul. The 13-day tour offers visitors exclusive access to woven treasures, including those at Istanbul's Turkish and Islamic Art Museum (left), alongside fascinating insight into the weaving traditions of Anatolia. [Join the tour.]( Welcome back to [#RugFactFriday]( where during the lead up to the ICOC XV the focus will be on Turkish carpets and their variations. Anatolian weaving cultures have, for hundreds of years, produced textiles with an apparently ‘modern’ aesthetic. For the late John Wertime, as expressed in an article from HALI 213, this is especially true of minimally decorated traditional textiles woven of luxurious mohair fibre in spacious, abstract compositions. The article begins by tracing the origins of mohair, describing how a common name for the fibre and the goat, 'angora', derives from Ankara. The 'lustrous' quality of this fibre drew European buyers to the modern day Turkish capital from the 15th century, but by 1900 mohair cloth production was 'largely forgotten in Turkey'. Wertime goes on to detail the processes involved in the production of these incredible cloths: 'After weaving, the fine warp-faced plain weave cloth is coloured by immersion in a dye vat, then finished by watering, folding, and pressing to create deep, permanent creases and wavy lines throughout the material. The peculiar sizing of the warp, spun from the slippery, lustrous mohair fibre, and the weaving apparatus that produces the tightly woven warpfaced cloth, create a glossy surface that was once coveted for clothing and hangings in the homes of rich Europeans, and is still used in contemporary clothing by the local population of southeastern Anatolia where, traditionally, it was made into clothing worn by Kurds.' The author then explores the different types of Mohair weavings, categorised according to the specific way in which they were woven. He supplements his explanations using examples like the above from the Topkapı Palace Museum, one of the venues which ICOC attendees will be able to visit. Read the full article with a digital subscription to HALI. Image: Mohair and felt velense yer yaygrsr (ground cloth) belonging to Sultan Süleyman I (r. 1520-1566), Anatolia, 16th century. Topkapı Palace Museum, 13/148. 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