Turkish carpets unique to the Kula district of Manisa have been resurrected and are now being woven once again in a workshop set up in a historical mansion.
Kula Municipality restored the mansion of a Greek doctor named Aristi, who lived in the district about 300 years ago, and turned it into "Doctor Aristi Handicrafts Workshop."
In the weaving looms set up in the mansion, where many handicraft workshops are located, 16 kinds of motifs unique to Kula and bearing traces of pre-Islamic Central Asian Turkish traditions are kept alive by carpet weavers.
The six women employed in the workshop both revive the forgotten carpet weaving in the district and contribute to their families' income.
Kula Mayor Hüseyin Tosun told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they care about women's employment in the district and said that the Doctor Aristi Handicrafts Workshop will be an important center in this sense.
Tosun said that they will keep the weaving of carpets and rugs, one of the forgotten handicrafts of the district, alive in the workshop.
"We will ensure the survival of Kula carpets and kilims with various activities here. At the same time, the carpets and kilims produced here will be exhibited and sold to tourists who come to visit Kula, and the women of our community will benefit economically. Our workshop, which started with the weaving of carpets by six women, will increase in number in the future and serve those who want to weave more. Thanks to this, the women who weave carpets, which is a special art, will contribute to their family income," Tosun also said.
Tosun stated that the Doctor Aristi Handicrafts Workshop would be opened to students during the summer period when the schools are on holiday and would offer weaving, painting, recycling, wood and stone painting workshops.
Sultan Gençtürk, one of the master trainers of the workshop, also explained that the interest in the workshop is increasing day by day.
"We especially weave with motifs woven in Anatolia and reflecting the culture of Central Asia. At the same time, our women weave 16 kinds of carpet motifs, which are identified with the Kula district, stitch by stitch."
