Shirdak at the Asia House Fair in London

On this fair we will present the Kyrgyz arts and crafts, like the hand made felt carpets, the so called Shyrdak/Shirdak. We also bring nice and cozy pillows and slippers. And a selection of our tribal textiles from Central Asia and from the Chinese Miao tribes.

On all our fairs the beautiful felted birds are never missing.

Come over to London 12-14 april 2013 and visit us.

The fair takes place at Asia House on 63 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP.

Shirdak at Selvegde Spring fair 2013

This week we will take part in the Selvedge Spring Fair in London. The fair is on King’s road in the Old Town hall on March 22nd and March 23th.

This year we will show our new collection 2013. The Kasjmier” boots ,beautiful hand made of Cashmere wool and leather. The new collection felt hats of our hat milliner Zsofia Marx make with the boots an exquisite combination. In a way it is a classic 21^st century style. Warm colors of wool in a new mix, everything unique and hand made.

We will bring to the fair, our lovely spring collection of oya necklaces and of course the woolen birds, a great success last year.

Hope to meet you

Shirdak products at the Selvedge Spring Fair

Central asian textiles

This year 2013 we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Shirdak.
Our tribal textiles gallery on the Prinsengracht opened its doors in the autumn of 2003. After a try out in Utrecht the owner Marianne Tuerlings rented the beautiful spot Prinsengracht 192 Amsterdam. It proved to be a perfect place. In the 10 years Shirdak became the place to be for original Central Asian textiles and the story behind it. Every textile garment is unique and hand made, with its own function and symbolic meanings, which we like to share with our clients.
Shirdak want to be innovative in the presentation and selection of ​​interior design and fashion. In our ideas, the life style of the Central Asian nomads is the leading inspiration.

Photography Sunna & MarcvanPraag.com

Lovely christmas angels, all hand made in Kyrgyzstan

The Christmas decoration at Shirdak is made in Kyrgyzstan. For years we work with 3 studios on a fair trade bases. The felt puppets are made by hand of hand felted wool. The white felt has been dyed in beautiful aquarel pastel colors. For Christmas, we have two nativities a big one and a small one and lots of angels in different sizes.

The small nativity we expand with a new puppet every year. The group has reached 14 figures this year. The expression in the faces is really lovely and vivid. Beside the nativity we also have puppets like the horse with girl or the grandma with her grandchildren.

Grand ma with grand children, perfect gift for someone you love.

The love and attention with which it is made is clearly visible. Of course these puppets are not cheap but at the other hand it is not a disposable article but a perfect gift for someone you love.

Hand made puppets from Kyrgyzstan

Yurt felt house from the Turkish speaking nomads from Central asia

Every year I go to the djailoo,the Kyrgyz alps, to stay in a yurt for a couple of days. Yurts are the felted houses of the Turkish speaking tribes from Central Asia.

My yurt is always at the same family in Kyrgyzstan. Once I slept in a yurt in Uzbekistan, in the middle of no where. The trip was organized by a travel agency. The yurt was beautiful clean and everything, but it didn’t belong to a family. A couple of man working for the agency lived in these yurts.  After sunset they had great fun with each other and their vodka drinks. That’s ok when you are traveling in a group, but I was alone and the door of my yurt, as all yurt doors couldn’t be closed. I didn’t sleep well that night.

The shape of a yurt is like the view on the world of the animistic believing tribes. The dome shaped sky en the round flat world.

The round fence has been made of bent twigs. The sticks are tied together with leather, no iron is used in the yurt.

The top of the round dome is open to release the smoke from the fireplace.  It is called Tündük. Around the fence the Chii is stretched , it is a mat made of reeds. Sometimes beautiful patterns of wool are woven into the reeds. The threshold is closed by a thick felt door. The outer side of the tent is covered with thick felt, a good protection against the rain and wind.

Inside the women section is at the right, with the kitchen. On the left side we see the garment for cattle breeding and hunting, the section of the man. Opposite the entrance  all kind of textiles like carpets, felt rugs, quilts are piled on trunks. The place in front of the trunks is also the place of honor , the place for guests to be seated.

Several felt rugs are put on the floor in the yurt. And of course we have to take our shoes of..

More info on Shirdak, can be read in my blogs about shyrdak felt rugs

Staying in a yurt is very nice experience, the sound in a yurt is because of the textiles soft and the atmosphere is cozy.

The yurt from the Turkish speaking nomads from Central asia

Kashmir Boots, hand woven woolen fabric, limited edition for Shirdak

Our new collection boots are made of Kashmir woolen fabric.

The look is very stylish with the high wooden heel . In a way the boot is classic because of the Kashmir pattern in the hand woven wool. At the other hand the fabric used in a boot is new application of the fabric.

As always the boot has a lining of leather, every item is unique hand made by our boots maker. The design is by the owner of Shirdak, Marianne Tuerlings.

Be aware that the size is a little big.

On the catwalk of the winter collection we saw a paisley Kashmir boot. So it is not only unique but also fashionable.

Until December 6^th Joke van Zinderen shows her Memory books. Small hand-bound books with a felted decorated cover. Lovely to entrust small private secrets.

Memory books by Joke van Zinderen

New collection necklaces now online.

Last week we put many items on our Shirdak shop online.

New colors of oya necklaces. These necklaces are hand made in the crochet or needle lace technic, a traditional Turkish technic.

In the magazine Seasons of last August, we had a lovely picture of this type with the artificial pearls, a unique accessory, see picture.

All sizes of our popular embroidered boots are available again. A real eye catcher with a black dress.

I am working on the new collection Shirdak felt carpets now. I will show you next week. See you soon on our Shirdak shop online!

Autumn collection felt carpets online

funky accessories like woollen scarves, felted hats and cute felted dolls

This blog is a promise. I promise to restyle my online shop this coming weekend.

Too many items are sold. I am sorry for that. You know,all items are unique. So if one item has been sold., I have to put a new picture, new text, and when you think you are ready you have to struggle a way through keywords, alt tags, description tags and more I don’t want to bother you with.

Normally I manage, but this Summer 24 hours in a day was not enough.

I am also very excited to fill in the web shop again. Many beautiful stuff came in, funky scarves, crazy hats, happy boots, colorful wallhangings. And next month we receive my own designed collection KASJMIER boots and shoes.

You know what, I will show you some pictures now and next week everything is online, promise!

autumn 2012 must haves:  funky felt hat with woolen scarf and high heel boots

Her new series of 3D wall hangings is called Familiar Strangers

For Autumn, we, at Shirdak have some really nice exhibitions in our planning.

From Saturday October 6th until Saturday December 8th 2012 our artist in residence Dagmar Binder presents  her new serie of 3 dimensional structural wall hangings and felt objects with the title:

“Familiar Strangers”

Dagmar Binder: Combining painting with colored fibers, seamless 3D felting and other textile techniques, I’m exploring the expressive and sculptural potential of felt.

Fibers under tension naturally tend to take organic shapes, reflecting details of nature but develop their very particular physical presence in space and light. I see them mostly as poetic installations.

For years we sell Dagmar Binder’s beautiful scarves and hats .Her great felting technic, sense of color and new shapes are always a surprise and brings you back into memories of nature.

Detail Familiar Strangers, new work by Dagmar Binder