Turkish carpet weaving workshop and showroom, Avanos, Turkey

From Goreme, our bus drove to Avanos (I think I got the right town) to see how Turkish carpets were made. On the way, Metin informed us that carpet making is an art and protected by the Turkish government. There is a long history of rug making in Turkey. The intricate designs reflected the country's history and culture. This particular showroom was also a training center for carpet weaving. We got an overview of how silkworms made their way to Turkey, caring for the worms until they got to the cocoon stage and the method for extracting silk from the cocoons, after boiling them. We were also shown how the silk strands were spun to get stronger strands.

We then moved to another room to watch how rugs were woven by hand. The weavers were paid by the number of knots they completed, it was very labor intensive as well as back breaking work, sitting on a low bench by the loom.

I took only a few photos of the demo, but was so busy admiring the artwork that I forgot to take photos of the carpets. However, I found this video on the Internet that was remarkably similar in pitch and demo to the done we experienced. It almost looked like the same place or perhaps the tours and demos use the same script!

After the demo, we were taken to a big room where we experienced a sales pitch of the types of carpets available for sale. We were served tea and/or raki while the sales people unfurled rolls upon rolls of carpet to our appreciation. The price of each carpet varies depending on the material, e.g. silk on cotton, cotton on cotton, etc., the size and the pattern. None of the numbers mentioned were in my price range. However we have been told by Metin that we can bargain to bring the price down by 40%, and that the price includes shipping back to the US.

We were also invited to take off our shoes and walk on the carpets, while some of us also walked through the other rooms to view carpets used as wall hangings. I did take one photo of this framed greytoned picture on the wall.

Interestingly enough one of the sales person was a lady who was born in Indonesia. I had a chance to practise my Indonesian on her. She tried really hard to sell me a carpet, but I managed not to spend any money. We found that at least one member of our tour group purchased a beautiful carpet.