Glasgows West End: Pat's Guide to Interior Design: Al-Andalu
Pat's Pick: Al-Andalus
De Courcy's Arcade, Cresswell Lane, off Byres Road, Glasgow G12.
Tel: 0141 334 9559 e mail: [email protected]
Make sure you go along to De Courcy's on 29th November - late opening 6.00 - 9.00p.m. (until Christmas)
Anyone who has been to the West End will tell you that De Courcy's Arcade is a treasure trove for shoppers with its array of interesting boutiques. One of the real gems is Al-Andalus, which offers a whole new concept to shopping for carpets.
The shop is owned by Ibrahim Tekin, who is has a fantastic range of oriental and tribal carpets for sale. Including some which are 150 years old. Ibrahim has recently taken over the shop from Nerea Aguirre from San Sebastian - you can see Nerea in the photograph above. However, we'll get ourselves organised soon and take some photographs of Ibrahim in his new place of work.
Ibrahim is a direct importer which provides a unique opportunity for people to purchase beautiful, individually created carpets by fine craftsmen. He stocks an amazing and wonderful selection of carpets at very reasonable prices. Ibrahim makes it his business to aquaint himself with the different designs, their meanings, and history and each carpet comes complete with information. Not only do you get a bargain but this makes commodity buying so much more interesting.
Quite recently we bought a lovely Persian Qashqai rug at Al-Andalus and it has transformed our living room, with it came the following information:
"Quashqai is a tribe of Turkic origin (probably originating in Central Asia or Eastern Turkestan)and living in South West Iran, around the city of Shiraz. Qashqai wool is a valued commodity - hard, long-stapled, glossy, well spun - and is sold in the bazaars. The Qashqai are particularly well known for the quality and purity of their colours. The occurrence of subtle changes of colour within a single weaving is known as "abrash" and is generally the result of unpredicatable factors, like mineral content of the water, same plants producing different colours and the thickness in the hand spun wool absorbing different quantities of dye (note the beautiful variation in colour particularly the grey-blue of the four corners).
The central crab-like motive is the "symbol" of the Qashqai tribe and is also repeated in the four corners.
This rug has a wonderful thick pile, deep colours highlighted by the cream motifs and the harmony of the design. It is about 35 years old".
There are lots more in the shop, none exactly the same, but all equally lovely, colourful and of course unique. I thoroughly recommend this interesting shop.
Photographs by Jim Byrne
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