What to buy in Uzbekistan: suzani, ikat, ceramics, knives and how to tell handmade

In ikat the pattern is dyed into the threads before weaving, which gives it soft, blurred edges. Two fabrics come off the looms: khan-atlas, pure silk, and adras, half silk and half cotton, cheaper and easier to wash. The home of both is Margilan in the Fergana Valley, and since 2017 the Margilan Crafts Development Centre has been on UNESCO’s Register of Good Safeguarding Practices for keeping atlas and adras alive.

At the Yodgorlik factory, working since 1972, you watch the silk go from cocoon to cloth and buy it by the metre. Because the threads are dyed, real ikat shows the pattern on both sides of the fabric; a print is pale on the back. How we plan the valley is in our Fergana Valley guide.

Rishtan, in the Fergana Valley, works with red local clay and the blue-green ishkor glaze, made from mineral pigments and the ash of burnt plants; families keep their recipes to themselves. Rishtan-style bowls are also made in volume for the bazaars, so if you want handmade, buy in a workshop, from the people at the wheel. Masters often put their mark on the base.

Gijduvan, about 40 km from Bukhara, has its own school. The Narzullaev family has potted here for six generations, and Abdullo Narzullaev opened a ceramics museum in his workshop in 1992. The patterns are geometric and floral, with green and blue prevailing. Ask the workshop to wrap your plates well and carry them in your hand luggage.

A pichoq from Chust, in the Namangan region of the Fergana Valley, is widely regarded as one of the finest traditional knives in Uzbekistan. It has a straight, wide blade and a handle of horn, bone or antler, and the blade carries the stamp of Chust. The town’s old blacksmiths’ quarter is still called Suzangaron.

In Bukhara, the trading dome of Telpak Furushon sells knives, jewellery and musical instruments, and next to it is a blacksmith’s workshop where you can watch knives forged. Look for the bird-shaped scissors of the Bukhara smiths: open them, and the beak becomes the two blades. Shavkiddin Kamalov, a sixth-generation blacksmith, runs a blacksmith’s museum in the city. Pack every blade in your checked luggage.

At the Meros mill in Konigil, 13 km from Samarkand, paper is made by hand from mulberry bark. The method had been lost by the 19th century; the Mukhtarov brothers brought it back in the 1990s. The paper is slightly yellow, because nobody bleaches it, and is used to restore old manuscripts. The shop sells notebooks, postcards and miniatures, all light enough for any suitcase. It fits into the third day of our Samarkand plan.

In Khiva, inside Itchan Kala, you can step into workshops and watch silk carpets being woven. The dyes are natural: pomegranate peel, walnut husk, madder root and indigo. A single carpet can take months. In Bukhara, carpets are sold under the domes of Toki Sarrafon and Tim Abdullakhan.

To check a carpet, turn it over. On a hand-knotted carpet the pattern shows on the back as rows of individual knots, slightly uneven, and the fringe is the end of the warp threads the carpet was woven on. A stiff grid, a glued backing or a fringe sewn on afterwards means a machine.

The easiest gifts come from Chorsu in Tashkent and Siab in Samarkand: dried apricots, raisins, almonds, pistachios, spices and kurt, small balls of salted dried yoghurt. Taste before you buy. Check the rules of your home country before you pack food: Australia, for example, requires you to declare dried fruit, nuts, spices and wooden items on the Incoming Passenger Card, and declared goods of low risk are returned after inspection.

Buy at the source when you can: the workshops of Rishtan and Gijduvan, the looms of Margilan, the Meros mill, the domes of Bukhara, the workshops of Khiva. Bazaars like Chorsu and Siab are best for food, spices and everyday ceramics.

In bazaars and under the domes, bargaining is part of the deal. Ask the price, offer less with a smile and meet in the middle. Do not start if you do not mean to buy: once you agree a price, the deal is done. Bring som in small notes. Cards work wherever there is a terminal, but bazaar stalls want cash; see cards, cash and tipping. A guide helps more than you might think, especially where masters speak only Uzbek; see a private guide in Uzbekistan.

If crafts are why you travel, our Fergana Valley crafts tour gives four days to Rishtan, Margilan, Kokand and Andijan, with a ceramics session with a master in Rishtan. The older crafts story is in traditional crafts of Uzbekistan.