In the Foreign Service, there are various posts that have lots of interesting local handicrafts to buy, and these place are often referred to as 'shopping posts.' Uzbekistan is ones of those posts. They have lovely carpets, beautiful Persian miniatures, interesting metalworking, detailed woodcarving, handwoven silk fabric, hand-embroidered tapestries, and stunning pottery. When my parents came to visit, my mother assured me that they didn't need anything else for their house. I smiled to myself when she said this, knowing that she hadn't seen all of the beautiful things that Uzbekistan has to offer.
There are various regions that are known for various handicrafts, so if you really want to get serious about shopping in Uzbekistan, then the best place to buy things is in the region that they're made. All of the handicrafts can be found in Tashkent, but often you can find higher quality, more selection, and better prices when you go outside Tashkent for shopping.
Two years ago, the three Relief Society sisters in the church group here took a trip to Samarkand, the center of suzani,hand-embroidered tapestry, production. We had a lovely weekend together and bought a serious amount of suzanis. When you combine stunningly beautiful handicrafts with three women egging each other on, it makes for some pretty intense shopping. While shopping, we saw a beautiful ceramic bowl and found that it had come from another region. We decided that our next trip would be for pottery shopping.
Between having Elizabeth and COVID, we didn't get an opportunity to take another trip until this spring. One of the sisters left last summer, so it was only two of us this time. We were able to get our first round of vaccinations a few weeks ago, so as soon as we knew that the vaccinations were coming, we got the trip set up. We are both leaving this summer, so it was now or never.
Thankfully our amazing Russian teacher, Elmira, was able to coordinate everything for us, booking the hotel, finding masters to visit, and setting up the schedule. She was even able to come with us and act as our translator and bargainer.
We left early Friday morning and drove four hours to the first town, Kokand, and were able to pass this trip off as cultural enlightenment by visiting a two hundred year-old mosque and the palace of the Kokand Khanate, built in the late nineteenth century.
But to make sure we accomplished our true purpose, we were also able to get some shopping in, visiting the workshop of a master woodcarver, fabric weaver, and knife maker. I found a lovely table and fabric, and my friend was able to purchase some equally lovely knives.
On Saturday we rose bright and early to get to Rishtan, the home to numerous ceramic workshops in Uzbekistan. One of the main ceramicists had gotten a group masters together several years before and organized the construction of a ceramics center, which was finished last year. The lovely complex has the workshops, showrooms, and homes of twenty ceramicists.
We had originally planned to spend two hours, but finally pulled away with a loaded trunk four hours after showing up. Each time we stepped into a new shop, there were new and different delights to greet us, and it was almost physically painful to have to only choose a few. By the end of our visit, everyone was happy. We were happy with our treasures and they were happy that we had liberally spread our generosity across the entire complex.
Our visit finished with a trip to the home and workshop of our host, Alisher. He had a special treat for us - the opening and unloading of a kiln-full of new pottery that he and his apprentices had been working on for the last several months. I had thought that I was done with my shopping, but as they pulled out piece after stunning piece from the kiln, I realized that I was sadly mistaken. When I showed my Russian teacher which pieces had caught my fancy, I told her that I didn't even care about the price anymore. I just wanted the pieces.
By the end of the day, I had found thirteen new treasures to take home with me to fill my house with the beauty of Uzbekistan. I figured that it was a good trade - all of the local craftsman got paid for all of their hard labor and I would have lovely things to spark joy whenever I looked at them. It's probably a good thing that we're leaving in a few months, however - otherwise I'd be tempted to go back and get some more pottery. But instead I'll just be content with what I have. And whenever I look at it, I'll be reminded of a lovely weekend with two lovely friends.
