Traveling to Kastamonu, a region in the North-West of Turkey that is home to a healthy and flourishing textile industry, it was a great experience to take part in the hand weaving workshops and assist in the complex phases that characterize priceless hand labor works based on the nail knotting technique. Distributed across 10 days, the different weaving phases require immense patience and precision from the weavers who need one week to choose the type of material and design, prepare the wrap and fix it on the loom. Afterwards, the delicate weaving process starts. Three weaving days are required to finish one single square meter of fabric and the shuttle has to move 28 times on the fabric to obtain one square centimeter of cloth. Kastamonu's weavers are exceptional and their manual mastery of the art comes from their region's ancient and longstanding hand weaving tradition. Despite the advent of mechanized production methods in the latter half of the 20th century, the manual art has been preserved until today. This was made possible through the efforts of local authorities that founded the Supporting and Developing Hand Weaving Project in 1996. Various archaeological findings and travelers' accounts demonstrate the ancient significance of this tradition and art for the region's culture and economy. The first historical records in this province concerning the usage of natural plant fibers and animal skin to create fabrics can be traced back to the period of the Hittites, Anatolian people who established an empire in north-central Turkey around 18th century BC. The oldest written records affirm that the Hittitian Emperor's family used to wear clothes produced in Pala, an area located in present Kastamonu. Excavations in the town of Devrekani, that unearthed various types of ancient A?ir?ak clothes, also confirm the presence of ancient weaving practices. More recent accounts from 19th century travelers and the “1888-1889' Kastamonu Almanac” reveal how the textile industry at the time was well-established in the province and able to support the national economy by fulfilling both internal and external demand. The almanac states that Kastamonu's variegated weaving production included bed sheets, curtains, shirts and clothes which also highlighted the region's high quality cotton, wool and linen fabrics. A weavers' cooperative was founded in 1940 to enhance and organize kastamonu's hand weaving production. The cooperative was able to wave six million square meters of fabric and obtained a threemillion lira endorsement. In those days, Kastamonu's hand weaving art was experiencing its golden age with 19,377 manual looms distributed among 65,318 households. In the 1950s, the advent in Kastamonu of the mechanized textile industry inevitably weakened the region's hand weaving tradition. The art was restored in 1996 thanks to the Supporting and Developing Hand Weaving Project founded by Kastamonu's Governatorate under the umbrella of a Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundation. These kind of initiatives combined with the efforts of the young who patiently learn the art of manual weaving from their elders not only keeps the region's traditions alive, but also strengthens the economy. In this era of globalization, Kastamonu is striving to preserve the flavours of ancient traditions, and the fabrics produced manually are not merely pieces of cloths, but beautiful artworks speaking volumes about the weavers' passion, creativity and dedication.
