John Robshaw Goes Ikat Hunting Along the Silk Road Less Taken

Usurprises,” says textile designer John Robshaw, who first visited the Central Asian country 12 years ago. “I was traveling in India at the time and had heard from designers what an amazing country it was.” And they were right, he says, noting the rolling hills and mountains punctuated by forests of poplars, meadows, fruit orchards, and small market towns. “It’s dry and a little dusty, but the skies seem always to be blue overhead. And you can feel the history—islamic architecture, then

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Soviet-era slick stuff surrounding it— kind of frozen in place since the country’s independence in 1991. For example: You’ll be in a jazz bar in Tashkent that feels like it’s straight out of the 1950s, complete with a Russian guy playing the piano.”

The traditional textiles that run deep in Uzbekistan’s history, he says, have stayed largely intact. and

are both old cities on the Silk Route, and they’re must-sees for their mosques, mausoleums, and fortresses as well as suzani embroidery,” Robshaw notes, adding that is the

UZBEKISTAN Fazlitdin Dadajanov, noted fourth-generation ikat weaver, in his Fergana Valley shop. Freshly dyed silk color samples dry at a silk factory in Margilan. The Registan public square in Samarkand. A craftswoman weaves an ikat textile.

Textiles designer John Robshaw