Welcome to UzbekAlive, an online fabric store which offers a variety of Central Asian ikat fabrics and the largest online selection of silk ikat scarves. Our ikats were hand dyed and handloom woven in Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan using a centuries old technique of ikat weaving. The technique requires a precision in tying and wrapping silk threads before dying in order to create a desired pattern.
Uzbekistan was once a major branch of the ancient Silk Road. As caravans traveled between East and West they facilitated exchange of cultures, religions and skills. Certain imperfections in dying and weaving are inherent to the manual process of ikat making and should not be considered as defects. Dry cleaning is recommended for silk scarves. Hand wash in cold water is recommended for cotton/silk blend fabrics.
In addition to scarves and fabrics, we also feature works of lacquer ornamental painters whose work is presented on our website in forms of jewelry and decorative boxes, hair barrettes and pins.
Our eclectic section includes some random and interesting items which do not fit into any one category. Look around, shop around and do let us know if there is anything we can help you with.
UzbekAlive is one of the most popular online stores for Central Asian textiles, lacquer ornamental paintings and other rare finds. We offer a variety of hand woven silk, cotton/silk blend ikat and solid hand woven fabrics. 99% of our ikats are made by the 3rd generation ikat makers Asadulloh Kasymov and Rasul Mirzaahmedov. The remaining 1% of fabrics we buy from various other ikat makers if we find their patterns interesting and of good quality.
Our fabrics are widely used by fashion and interior designers. The cotton/silk ikat fabrics (adras) are often used for upholstery and other decorative purposes.
UzbekAlive is the only online source of Central Asian ikat scarves. We primarily offer pure silk ikat scarves but also carry a small collection of cotton ikat scarves and sheer ikat scarves. Our silk scarves were featured in January 2008 issue of LUCKY magazine in the USA. Ikat is a huge fashion trend these days. Just throwing an ikat scarf on your shoulders will immediately add a chic touch to your looks. Sheer ikat scarves, since they are wider in width, can be used as beach cover ups.
In addition to textiles, we work as an online channel for offerings works of lacquer ornamental painters to the world. Their work is presented in jewelry boxes, hair barrettes and pins. Most of the lacquer painting items presented on this website were made by Koshib Omonov’s workshop in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The art of ornamental painting is very traditional to Uzbekistan. Ornamental painting was traditionally used for decoration of walls, domes, ceilings, etc. It was only in 20th century that the ornamental painting found its use in jewelry and decorative boxes. Our jewelry boxes are exquisite pieces of art. We suggest that you enlarge each image of the jewelry box on the website and view the intricate details of painting.
Jewelry boxes make very unique and memorable gifts. We had a few customers who ordered several jewelry boxes in the same design but different colors to give as gifts to their bridesmaids. Each jewelry box is signed by an artist who painted it. In addition to his signature, for custom orders, he can write something memorable on the back side of the lid or on the bottom of the jewelry box.
Our jewelry boxes are a more stylish way of presenting your gifts of jewelry – your gift of jewelry comes with a gorgeous jewelry box. Several customers wrote us saying that they keep their jewelry boxes on their night stands so they can put their jewelries there at night and easily find them in the morning.
Lacquer hair barrettes and pins are very popular gift items for ladies who appreciate exotic and unique accessories. Most of the barrettes have 3 levels of clip adjustments and can hold even very thick hair.
We have a few items in the eclectic section of the website – these are things that we thought would be of interest to our customers and that ca not be categorized into one category.
We will be adding more and more items to ikat quilts and ikat pillow covers sections. As always, we will be looking forward to your feedback.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at nilufar@uzbekalive.com.
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