Craft · Namangan
Chust doppi (skullcap)
The four-sided Chust skullcap, with white pepper-pod motifs on dark green, is the best-known emblem of Uzbek dress — and every oasis has its own doppi.
Craft · Namangan
Chust knives
Hand-forged knives from Chust in Namangan Region: a blade with a slightly upturned tip, the maker’s stamped ‘signature’ and a decorated sheath.
Photo: BeshevI · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The town of the suzangars
Chust, an ancient town on the northern edge of the Fergana Valley, is the valley’s best-known knife-making centre. Its knife-smiths have long been called suzangars, from the Tajik suzan, ‘needle’, since they once made needles. Knives are forged in small smithies, and a piece of metal passes through dozens of stages before it becomes a blade. While the hardened blade is still hot, the smith hammers in his own mark, which tells you where and by whom the knife was made.
A slightly upturned tip is the trademark of Chust smiths. Handles are made of wood, bone or horn and secured with brass rings.
Choosing a good knife
Folk wisdom says a good pichoq is light grey, its handle matches the blade and sits comfortably in the palm, and it can be sharpened on the unglazed base of a porcelain bowl. The sheath is part of the knife: thick cloth or leather, decorated with embroidery, embossing or engraved brass. Buy Chust knives in the town’s own workshops and bazaar, or in the craft rows of the valley and larger cities. Shahrikhan, Kokand and Khiva knives are also recognised as distinct types in Uzbekistan.
Sources (2)
Photos
Craft · Fergana
Rishtan ceramics
The blue and turquoise pottery of Rishtan in the Fergana Valley, famed for its ishkor glaze made from plant ash and its local red clay.
Craft · Bukhara
Gijduvan ceramics
Pottery from Gijduvan near Bukhara, glazed in browns, yellows and greens — the best-known centre of the Bukhara–Samarkand school.
Craft · Fergana
Margilan atlas and adras
Margilan’s ikat silks: pure-silk atlas and half-silk adras. UNESCO recognises the town’s work to safeguard them as a model practice.
Craft · Bukhara
Bukhara gold embroidery
Embroidery in gold and silver thread on velvet and silk — the art of the Bukhara emirs’ court and still the city’s most precious craft.
Craft · Khorezm
Khiva woodcarving
The carved doors and columns of Itchan Kala: Khiva’s carvers never paint the wood, finishing it only with natural oil; the Juma Mosque alone has more than 200 columns.
Craft · Samarkand
Samarkand paper
Paper made from mulberry bark — the finest writing material of the 9th–10th-century Islamic world, revived at Konigil at the end of the 20th century.
Craft · Bukhara
Suzani and Bukhara embroidery
Large hand-embroidered hangings called suzani; the Bukhara school is known for fine designs covering almost the whole cloth in reds and greens on a pale ground.
Craft · Navoiy
Nurata suzani
Embroideries from Nurata in Navoiy Region: realistic sprays of carnations, irises, cotton flowers and cherries on a pale ground around a central eight-pointed star.
Craft · Samarkand
Samarkand and Urgut suzani
Big red-and-black circles and rosettes on white define the Samarkand school; Urgut is a living embroidery centre and a favourite bazaar for suzani hunters.