This article is part of Jozan Magazine’s ongoing series of personal portraits from the oriental rug world, highlighting the experiences and perspectives of dealers, researchers, and experts.
Ruth Lockwood is the owner of Tribal Collections, a rug and kilim store located in Göreme, Cappadocia. Ruth is especially known internationally for her ‘Carpets 101’ workshops.
Modest beginnings in rural New Zealand and a family inheritance sparked Ruth Lockwood’s unlikely journey into a lifelong profession with oriental rugs. Without formal training or mentors early on, she built her expertise at the source through immersion in the Turkish and Central Asian rug trade, overcoming industry gate-keeping and gender barriers along the way.
She launched her business in the early 1990’s in Göreme, where she restored cave dwellings into a boutique hospitality venture before opening a dedicated boutique Rug Store. She remains a vocal advocate for recognizing women’s essential — though often invisible — role in every handmade rug.
I grew up modestly in small town New Zealand, with endless nature and not a textile museum of rug dealer in sight. My love and fascination with oriental rugs began through an inheritance of antique rugs my grandmother had collected while living in India and travelling in Iran and Afghanistan.
In the late 1980s, I left the corporate world of training and business development and travelled to Turkey with a backpack and a hope to buy a true heirloom rug like hers.
Disillusion came fast asmany sellers relied on romantic, exaggerated stories, black tea and compliments, but few facts.Separating truth from sales rhetoric was a challenge.
I settled in Göreme in Cappadocia, then still a little-known village. I used my unspent rug budget to restore and run a small cave hotel. Roads were dirt. Donkeys carried supplies. Life felt timeless.
Living locally gave me a rare chance to learn at source and immerse myself in all aspects of the trade. I started with little knowledge and no academic or family background in rugs. What I had was curiosity, passion, and the ability to communicate both.
The collapse of the USSR opened Central Asia. The trade became wild and fast-moving. Afghan, Turkmen and Kurdish traders carried rugs across borders by any means. Supply felt endless. Knowledge grew quickly. Contacts were made for life.
Historically the industry was overwhelmingly male. Being taken seriously as one of the few foreign women dealers outside Istanbul was an enormous challenge. Many conservative traders struggled doing business with a woman, ignoring me, asking for the man boss, or directing their sales spiel to my male tea boy. Business was sometimes conducted at a physical distance, without a handshake or direct eye contact so as not to muddy cultural boundaries. But I had a passion for rugs and I paid on time. Always. And that slowly built respect, trust, and long friendships I still value today.
In the mid-90s, I was organising successful rug study tours to traditional weaving villages in Central Turkey. I also co-created a natural dye weaving project working with young women from the Taurus mountains, moving them from weaving the simplest kilims to those inspired by museum collections .I thought I would teach western color and design ideas. Instead, the weavers taught me. Their talent exceeded every parameter we set. It was humbling. And unforgettable.
Today, I’m best known for my ‘Carpets 101’ workshops which I have presented to Prime Ministers, dignitaries, students, collectors, and rug study groups. I believe in making complex rug knowledge accessible at a grass roots level and to connect people more closely to the creative legacy of the women weavers themselves.
With social media and internet selling the landscape of the rug trade is quickly evolving yet it still surprises me is how rarely the actual weaver is mentioned in a sale. Most rugs carry a woman’s voice. Almost none carry her name. This anonymity denies recognition of the weaver as the true artist she is. As a trade, its vital we do better.in acknowledging this extraordinary contribution of women.
Traditional weaving is declining. Machine-made rugs now flood the lower-priced market, chasing quick profits, not sustainability. The changing values of a new generation and gender, need a bigger platform and real industry support if the art of the handmade rug is to survive. I applaud the younger Turkish, and middle eastern woman now in the trade who offer a unique insight into rugs that speak clearly to their heritage.
I could not have successfully navigated 37years in the rug business without the expert help and advise from dealers, traders and men and women at every level of the industry and I gratefully thank them all. My passion continues.
We need to honour the makers whose names we don’t know. Their work is our foundation. Our role is to keep the craft alive. And give credit where it was always due.
Interview conducted by Ivan Soenderholm for Jozan Magazine. Text edited with permission from Ruth Lockwood.
Ruth Lockwood, Tribal Collections, Nomadic Rugs & Textiles, Kose Çikmazi No.1, Goreme-Turkey