How Things Have Come to Be

I love stories. I love the way stories transport me to different eras and different realities, and I especially love encountering different characters and real people – past and present. My favorite stories are about how things have come to be, and continue being. That's what I love about Novica: everyone has a wonderful story to tell, and every work of art featured on www.novica.com is an integral part of many interrelated stories. Then, true Piscean that I am, I fly into fantasy and add my own bits to the stories.

I know... this is dangerously bordering a metaphysical-quantum physics-existential discussion, which I'd be far from understanding! No, this is about the way Novica stories go, and don't quite have an end... .

Take area rugs for example. Efrain Curi in Peru became a weaver under his uncle's tutelage, he works with traditional looms carved from wood and he only works with wool and cotton. That's part of his story (shall we call it story #1?). Some of the patterns and motifs that he uses are replicas that can be traced back to the Inca Empire (story #2). Then comes my own bit -- I am so intrigued about the 3D effects he achieves, that I wonder if Escher's work has anything to do with it? Or did Escher get his inspiration from Inca artistry? That's part of the rug's story, thus story # 3. Now, how Curi and his rugs came to Novica, well that's part of another story! Story # 4! But see how story #1, 2, 3 & 4 are all interrelated?

Living in Mexico, Novica's Zapotec rug collection brings to mind memories of trips to Oaxaca and exploring Monte Alban pyramids. I am grateful to the weavers from the Oaxacan Artisan Association for sharing what is a new story for me, the Zapotec belief of how people come to be. For example, you know that kind of star-like diamond that you see in most Zapotec rugs? Well putting it briefly, it really represents the four cardinal points and their life energies, considering the cycle of life beginning at conception and continuing in the world of souls, until rebirth. Check out Oaxacan Artisan Association for a fuller story!

I rake up the miles in the fantasy frequent flyer when I see hand-knotted rugs from India! I imagine a group of people sitting together knotting rugs and wonder, do they gossip about the latest Bollywood scandals, or just their next door neighbors? Do they share funny stories about their kids? I also hope they don't have to keep count of the knots – if it were me, I'd constantly have to go back and count! I'm sure the actual process is far more elaborate and sophisticated than what I am imagining, which is why hand-knotted rugs are priced for the quality of the artistry, as well as the quality of the material -- that's why Indian hand-knotted rugs usually become family heirlooms. That means that, though you may be able to trace the story of a hand-knotted rug through Novica to Ishtyaq in India, you'll be hard-press to find the end of the story because it will likely continue for generations to come.

That's why I love reading Customer Testimonials, because they keep the stories going, when they share their experience of receiving the rug, and their amazement when it becomes a real piece of decorative art in their homes. I wonder what their guests say? What's their contribution to a rug's story?