Uzbekistan · Embroidery / Textile
Сузани (Suzani)
Suzani (Сузани — Persian: 'needle') is the large decorative embroidery panel that was the centerpiece of a Uzbek bride's trousseau — produced by the bride, her mother, and female relatives working simultaneously on separate panels of the same composition. The defining technical challenge is the distributed work system: a typical suzani is too large for one embroiderer to complete — it is divided into strips, each assigned to a different woman, and reassembled at completion. The master embroiderer (ustoz) draws the full design on the base cloth before cutting into strips, then assigns specific color sequences to each worker — 'the ustoz must remember which color each woman holds so that when the strips are joined the flowers have the same soul.'
Risk level: Endangered · UNESCO Representative List (2021) — Uzbek suzani; Uzbekistan national ICH list
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