Carpet shopping in Tbilisi, Georgia

Much has been written about kilims and carpets in Georgia and the Caucasus region – Iran, Iraq, Kurdistan Region, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In most carpet shops in Tbilisi there is a collection of carpets from the mountainous Karabakh region – the landlocked disputed region in the South Caucasus. In the southwestern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is a de facto independent, but recognized, state in the former autonomous oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet State of Russia. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia recognize the disputed region as their own. Armenians often refer to the region as Artsakh.

It is a region famous for carpet weaving, carpet bags, and carpeted pillow/cushion covers. The Armenian traits of dragons, serpents, and eagles depicted, as well as three arches, and the Azerbaijan diverse carpet traits are often separate, mixed, or not used at all in the Karabakh carpets that have their own distint patterns and colours.  Artsakh, Karabakh, and Shusha carpets are often more vibrant with flower and vegetative motifs in a geometrically symmetrical pattern. They are also more likely to be large and oblong shaped.

 Karabakh carpet

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).