Through my continuous travels to Turkey and the weaver’s region, I am able to establish and maintain relationships with the weavers and producers of treat you.
I met Fatma through Meryem, who is the founder of the Buldan Foundation Through the sales treat you supports the foundation’s projects regarding women and education in Turkey and the weaver’s region.
Meryem and Fatma are old school friends. Fatma started weaving later on in her life. In the beginning she was weaving scarves from poplar fibers and silk. Now she also weaves beautiful pestemals on her handloom. We were visiting her last year in her atelier; this is mentioned in the blog entry A deeper understanding behind treat you Towel sales .
In my showroom at Burstwiesenstrasse in Zurich you can see her scarves and pestemals by appointment.
In the following paragraph Fatma told me her story:
Ich ging in Buldan in die Primar-/ Sekundarschule und das Gymnasium. Die Haupteinkommensquelle meiner Familie war das Weben. Mein Vater produzierte ein Stoff namens „Sari Üslük“, der spezifisch zur Region Buldan gehört, meine Mutter webte Tischdecken. Bei den Weberfamilien werden alle Familienmitglieder miteinbezogen. Deshalb half ich auch schon von klein auf mit. Während ich im Gymnasium war, lernte ich die Ränder der Handtücher zu nähen. Mit der „Kasnak“ Maschine, (a kind of machine embroidery frame) .
After I got married I continued to embroider with that machine to contribute to the household budget.
I had a son and a daughter. When my children grew up, I decided to learn to hand weaving as a hobby. In 2012 I participated in a handloom-weaving course organized by the Public Education Directorate. Through that course I learned the fineness of the hand weaving. At the end of the course in 2012 I installed a handloom in my husband’s family home. The house is a historical house, which is listed by the Council for the Protection of Cultural Heritage.
My hobby turned into a small business. I wove foulards by using different kinds of threads such as cotton, silk, flush and bamboo.
In 2016 the Buldan education and solidarity foundation started to support me about promoting my hand loomed products. With their help my products have been sent to various parts of the world such as America, Holland and Switzerland. Now I also weave pestemals using cotton and bamboo.”
