Kyrgyzstan
Hello, I'm Ainur
Mamytova
I preserve the shyrdak felt art of Kyrgyzstan — bold interlocking geometries that represent mountains and rivers. On silk, the same patterns become something lighter, something that moves.
From the Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan, Ainur Mamytova is a master of shyrdak — the traditional felt carpet art of the Kyrgyz people. Recognized by UNESCO for her work preserving this ancient craft, she creates bold interlocking geometries that represent mountains, rivers, and the spiritual world of Kyrgyz cosmology.
The Tian Shan mountains are not gentle. They do not suggest. They are vertical, severe, impossible. When Kyrgyz women made shyrdak, they made something that could answer the mountains — bold interlocking shapes in madder crimson and black, nothing soft, nothing decorative in the Western sense. I have been asked many times why I work in such strong contrasts. Because I grew up between peaks that were four thousand metres high and the valley floor was one thousand. The light did not graduate between these heights. It cut. I ordered a small block of linden wood from a carpenter here in Bishkek and spent three weekends carving my first galib. I cut myself four times. I threw it away twice. The third attempt was imprecise — the lines were not clean enough to hold resist properly. I sent photographs to Narmin. She replied in one sentence: the block is too soft, use pear wood. She was right. The pear wood block I carved next week gave a completely different impression — exactly what the mountains demand.
— Ainur Mamytova, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
The motif
Tian Shan shyrdak — mountain interlocking
Kyrgyzstan · Bishkek · UNESCO craft
The Tian Shan Collection
The Tian Shan Collection
Shyrdak felt-inspired dyeing · 18 pieces
18 pieces
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