Author Archives: Kevin

About Kevin

Kevin Sudeith is an artist and the creator and curator of the war rug collection seen on warrug.com. Beginning as (and remaining) a collector, he began selling war rugs to learn as much as possible about the rugs. Later he sold what he calls "regular rugs" to better study rugs and their historical origins. Sudeith learned how war rugs related to traditional Afghan tribal and workshop rugs as well as the broader Turkmen and Persian rug traditions.

Traditional and Contemporary in NYC Architecture

The combination of the traditional and the contemporary is critical to innovation in the arts. This combination juices any art: literature, painting, architecture, and of course, carpets. NYC has an excellent example of this important combination in the new Hearst Building.


Larger image from wirednewyork.com

NEW YORK architecture has suffered a lot in recent years. The brief optimism born of a public rebellion against early proposals for ground zero has long since given in to cynicism. Since then it has often seemed that fear and melancholy have swamped our creative confidence.

Norman Foster’s new Hearst Tower arrives just in time, slamming through the malaise like a hammer. Crisscrossed by a grid of bold steel cross-braces, its chiseled glass form rises with blunt force from the core of the old 1928 Hearst Building on Eighth Avenue, at 57th Street. Past and present don’t fit seamlessly together here; they collide with ferocious energy.

Link: Nicolai Ouroussoff of the NY Times



Image from cantorseinuk.com

New York City needs more of this kind of thing.

Mount Fuji Afghan Rug

Here’s a puzzler:
Mushwani, 5’1″ x 7’5″, dated 1994. No coherant translation of Farsi text, yet. The wool is super fine, very well knotted. The use of different checkerboard techniques is noteworthy, particularly how the checkerboard coloration is used to create convincing pictorial depth. $1400









Imam Ali Rug

This rug depicts the founder of Shia Islam, Ali. The writing says, “The Imam Ali, in whom God has given a great gift.” Note that his sword and green head dress.






Rug Washing

The effects of rug washing is a subject addressed in a few places on warrug.com as well as in the soon to arrive Warrug, the Book. Here is an example of the local antique wash from Heriz, Iran. The rug on the right is washed normally, the colors are good, the wool is soft and the wool has nice luster. The larger rug on the left has been antique washed to artificially soften the colors. As a result the wool is dry and somewhat brittle.

Afghan Women With Pluck Tackle Bird Flu

KABUL, Afghanistan — Raising chickens has always been women’s work in Afghanistan, and in the past several years this backyard occupation has brought new independence and income to thousands of illiterate war widows who have few other ways to earn a living.

So when avian flu was detected here six months ago, and several cases of its virulent H5N1 strain confirmed by U.N. experts in March, ripples of rumor and panic coursed through the loosely organized groups of widows in greater Kabul who raise some of Afghanistan’s estimated 12.1 million chickens and sell their eggs for 2 cents apiece.

Link By Pamela Constable, for Washington Post