Suzani Embroidery in Central Asia

As old cults and religions were replaced by new ones, astral symbols transformed into vegetative and floral symbols, as seen in Surkhandarya Suzanis. Some of the designs in Bukhara, Nurata and Shahrisabz Suzanis were influenced by the professional artists and carpet designers, who worked in the courts of the Muslim rulers. They created compositions with palmettes and meandering leaves, and blossoming branches of leaves and flowers with central moon or star motives.

With the advance of the Industrial Revolution, machine made textiles and then Soviet rule, when Suzanis were expected to reflect Soviet symbols instead of centuries old ethnic patterns, this ancient craft very nearly became extinct.

But since Uzbekistan's independence in the 90's, Suzani is making a brave and very proud comeback. A celebration once again of Suzani Creation.

Young girls again are being taught and learning to embroider, but there are huge threats to its survival, because machine made and synthetic copies of Suzani are sold at cheap prices to tourists, and this makes the true hand embroidered pieces seem too "expensive" and then forgotten. The ever rising cost of raw silk and cotton also has a huge impact on the survival of this noble craft.

Here below is a Nurata Suzani from my Collection, it was made by one woman over a period of two years recently.

She has moved to Russia now with her family and will not be creating Suzanis in Uzbekistan again.

Below this image is an example of an Antique Nurata Suzani from the late 19th Century, an inspiration for many Suzanis created now after Independence.

No single artefact can represent the silk roads, their legacy and the Arastan journey, better than a Suzani. Arastan seeks out beautiful products with stories that often began on the fabled Silk Route. The suzani is one such perfect story of an enduring craft that has forever bound into every stitch and motif the hopes, aspirations, dreams and fears of its makers who lived in what was perhaps the harshest landscape in the world. See Arastan’s selection of vintage and new suzanis, or read on to discover more about the culture and traditions behind this wonderful craft.

Suzani is a common term for embroidered dowry pieces (coverlets for the bridal bed, but also for made to decorate horses, tables, walls) produced for hundreds of years by the nomadic and settled women of Central Asia. Its roots are believed to be in the Fergana Valley that spreads across eastern Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Way back in the first millennium, the silk roads passed this way, through forbidding mountains, deserts and steppes, arriving at Bukhara, Samarkand and Khiva, celebrated centres of trade and cultural confluence. From the fertile soil of this verdant valley grew cotton and mulberry for the production of high-quality silk. With the lush silks of the region, Uzbek women created exquisitely embroidered suzanis in different shapes and patterns to decorate their homes, to cover their belongings and most significantly, to tell the story of their lives, from birth to that all important rite of passage, marriage.

Suzani from Tashkent

The suzani is an enduring symbol of cultural connections forged along the silk routes. Its diverse yet distinctive motifs and designs trace influences from the Hellenistic, Persian, and Turkish worlds. Suzani, in Persian or Farsi, means ‘needlework’. The fact that a Persian word is used to describe the embroidery of Central Asia is indeed the most telling sign of deep and lasting linkages made along those highways of antiquity.

But there’s more to the suzani than its significant place in history. The making of a suzani is a fascinating archive of the private and communal lives of the tribal women of Central Asia. According to local custom, a suzani was started every time a girl was born, in preparation for her dowry. Panels of cloth were hand-woven and taken to a kalamkash, an older woman acting as the local designer. Each female family member took up embroidery of a separate panel, with hand-spun silk thread worked in chain, satin and buttonhole stitch. As soon as the bride-to-be was old enough, she too took up the work. Once the panels were complete, they were stitched together and handed over at marriage.

Suzani from Urgut

The workmanship of a suzani was considered the litmus test of a bride’s industriousness and skill. Here again, is a wonderful insight. Embroidered into almost every suzani is an intentional “mistake”. It is believed only God can create what is perfect. Man cannot be so presumptuous as to attempt it. So, look carefully at an old suzani and you will invariably find an incomplete pattern, a distorted motif, that deliberate error of humility.

For the most part, you can tell where a suzani is made from the patterning, base fabric and colour of threads. Regardless of its place of origin, the first thing that always strikes you about a suzani is the distinctive central roundel, known as the palak or a gul. A palak is a heavenly orb, often stylized to look like giant red flowers. It appears not only among the Central Asian nomads, but also in the embroideries of Rajasthan and Gujarat, in Kashmir and in Turkish-influenced pieces from the Balkans, and in all of these places it is a symbol of power and fertility. Very broadly, suzanis from Bukhara are made on a silk-satin cream base, featuring large floral and vine patterns and motifs. Tashkent suzanis tend to have brightly coloured backgrounds and fairly small stylized floral motifs, whilst Fergana Valley work features large bold motifs – usually black and red on a cream background.