TRC Leiden: Lakai Uzbeks

Textile Research Centre (TRC) Leiden short encyclopedic entry on the Lakai Uzbeks (last modified 17 May 2021), part of the TRC Needles online database on regional embroidery traditions of the Iranian Plateau. The report states that the Lakai Uzbeks moved from Central Asia in the north and settled in the Kunduz area of northern Afghanistan after the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. It states they are particularly known for their embroidery, and that their work is characterised by the use of the cross stitch and multi-coloured geometric motifs carried out on bags, belts and bands. The entry states that many of the Lakai embroidered textiles, including door hangings, were used to ornament the interiors of yurts — the circular dwellings of many Central Asian groups. The entry cites as sources Roland Paiva and Bernard Dupaigne’s Afghan Embroidery (Lahore/Rawalpindi/Karachi: Ferozsons, 1993), and Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood and Willem Vogelsang’s Encyclopedia of Embroidery from Central Asia, the Iranian Plateau and the Indian Subcontinent (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021, p. 221). The illustration accompanying the entry depicts a Lakai tent hanging from Afghanistan. The page is authored by TRC contributor WV (Willem Vogelsang) and categorised within TRC Needles under the Iranian Plateau regional tradition. This is a brief reference note rather than a long-form analytical report.