GRAND BAZAAR: SUZANIS

I admit. I MAY be slightly obsessed with Suzanis. When first I heard about the trip to Turkey from my parents, it was honestly the thoughts of bringing back a suitcase full of suzanis that convinced me to go. Everyone is doing the Suzani trend. Anthropolgie is doing it - West Elm is too. I had to have one (or five!)! 

Admittedly, it was much harder than I thought to get my hands on beautiful, vintage Suzanis. I envisioned the kind of suzanis that are all over Lonny, design magazines and Pinterest, being sold on every corner in nice "rustic" Moroccan Souks. There were no "rustic" Souks in Istanbul, and the Grand Bazaar primarily teemed with gaudy gold jewelry, designer purse knock offs, and evil eyes of all shapes and sizes. I made my parents run up and down the narrow streets of the Bazaar on our quest to find the perfect Suzani. Nothing caught my eye. 

If I only noticed that Suzanis are typically used as focal points, I could have realized that Suzanis MAY be hard to track down. One accent pillow here, one bedspread there. No one has a home (or suitcase!) overflowing with suzanis. For good reason. They are rare, somewhat expensive, and most are actually from Uzbekistan. (I don't quite know where this is, but I might have to go THERE to bring back a suitcase of suzanis!) I also learned that the best designs are vintage, as the modern day stuff is made on machines. Some are embroidered out of silk, some (the larger bedspreads) out of cotton.

My bubble might have been slightly burst (since I had naively expected the entire Grand Bazaar would be the suzani epicenter) but, I struck gold when we stumbled upon this shop. After after two days of searching, temporarily refreshed after a Nescafe frappe (which, also was overpriced but worth every penny) we happened upon a shop actually overflowing with pillows and suzanis. I met the owner in this veritable Suzani heaven, and learned about his unique wares. The pillows are very well made, lined with quality cloth and showcasing vintage textiles. The owner admitted how hard it was to first take a pair of scissors to cut apart a large, 100 year old silk suzani bedspread worth thousands! If only I could have brought back a few of these pieces. In a lucid moment, though, I realized I should first invest in a new bed, and not buy pillows that are more expensive than my current one! 

H. Celal Acikgoz's shop is located in the carpet alley, the historic heart of the Grand Bazaar. I believe you can contact Celal through the website here.