The rich textile arts and crafts of Azerbaijan
- Shila Desai
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Less discovered? Exactly the point!
Nestled along the Caspian Seas as a bridge between Europe and Asia, Azerbaijan, like its neighbours Georgia and Armenia, has long been contested by Persians, Ottomans, Russians, and the Soviet Union.
A crisscross of civilisations almost always equates to a rich culture of textiles, arts and crafts. With EYHO's proven track record of "going before the crowds", it was time to head to the Caucasus.
Islamic Azerbaijan’s craft traditions are a counterpoint to Christian Georgia and Armenia. Each is diverse enough to merit separate explorations. Our inaugural Azerbaijan tour was meticulously curated by a renowned Azerbaijani textiles, arts, crafts and culinary author. Here's what we discovered.
Azerbaijani rugs are renowned worldwide for their craftsmanship and unique designs, such as the famous Karabakh and Shirvan styles. In Baku, a city of astonishing architecture, the UNESCO National Carpet Museum is housed in an imaginatively conceived building that resembles a rolled rug. We could have spent days in this excellent museum but a curator-led tour helped us admire the major highlights.
The museum also has a rich collection of Azerbaijani textiles which play a ceremonial role in weddings and religious festivals. Often bequeathed as gifts and heirlooms to strengthen family and community bonds.
A highlight was a visit to a women's co-operative in rural Azerbaijan for a day of making whicker rugs, knitting sturdy woollen socks, weaving kilim rugs, and tandir-oven making. Lunch was an enormous feast in the founder's family home. With the shuttering of USAID, the co-op was struggling to stay afloat. Our visit helped buoy spirits and finances.
We explored surprisingly cosmopolitan Baku, the charming old city, cobblestoned mountain villages, and medieval Shekhi -- the latter a stronghold of Shahs and a repository of a rich crafts culture, Hands on workshops with artisans in glass mosaic woodwork shebeki, takelduz embroidery, and keche felt techiniques brought us closer to the essence of Azerbaijan.
A textile highlight of Azerbaijan is hand block printed batik silk scarfs called Kelaghayi. Recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage, a kelaghayi is a symbol of femininity, modesty, and social status. Used for weddings, to convey age, marital status, and as a shroud, kelaghayi are central to Azerbaijani culture.
In Shekhi, we took in a kelaghayi workshop with a generational master artisan. His studio had survived multiple waves of Azerbaijan's colonisers. The last was a Soviet attempt at modernising his hand worked process, Most interesting!
No exploration is complete without sampling the regional cuisine. We ate a different type of meal everyday. Plenty of fresh and cooked salads, hot-off-the-tandir flatbreads, flavourful meats and fish, and an array of tempting pastries, washed down by herbal and floral infusions.
A week flew by. In a word: outstanding. We would miss the Azerbaijani people's warm hospitality, resilience, and rich crafts culture.
Next up: Stunningly beautiful, completely different Georgia.
Interested in exploring the Caucasus with us in 2027? Let us know! Our tours sell out fast. We will notify you of advance registration.
Thanks for taking a look! I am Shila Desai, owner of E.Y.H.O. Tours. I personally
handcraft itineraries, and infuse them with curated activities, accommodations, and sightseeing. Together with my in-country teams, we deliver exceptional holidays every time. I invite you to leave me a comment or write shila@eyhotours.com
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