ASIAN TEXTILES - OATG. Oxford Asian Textile Group

3EditorialI am delighted that in this edition of Asian Textiles we have been able to include an article on theQaraqalpaqs’ use of animal horn motifs in their textiles. As many of you know, the authors, Davidand Sue Richardson, have spent years studying the textiles from this remote region south of theAral Sea in Central Asia. Their magnificent book on the subject is just published and will bereviewed in the next issue of the magazine.We also have a second article from Anna Portisch on the textile traditions of the KazakhMongols. This time Anna has concentrated on explaining the importance of particular textileswithin the cultural traditions of families. Like the Qaraqalpaqs, the Kazakhs of Western Mongoliainhabit a remote and largely inhospitable region, but place huge emphasis on textiles in theireveryday lives. Such traditions are disappearing from many parts of the world—which is also atheme in Joy Totah Hilden’s book on Arabian weaving, reviewed in this edition of the magazine.Our third article in this edition is another interesting piece, this time on the Kuchi nomads,by Azra Nafees, who has now covered much of Pakistan and Afghanistan in her writings. They tooare being forced by circumstance to give up their old way of life and to settle, an in the processrisk losing much of their unique identity.One final point; no-one has yet come forward to identify the hat bought by OATG memberMarilyn Wolf and illustrated in the last edition of the magazine. I find it hard to believe that noneof our members can tell us more about it. Please take another look and contact me if you think youknow where it has come from.The EditorAnother postcard from Liebig, the French meat extract company that used to give these cards awaywith its products. This one shows Japanese artisans block-printing onto cloth. The Japanese arevery strong in the art of printing coloured designs onto fabrics, says the back of the card. What thishas to do with meat stock I do not know.