HALI Magazine, Issue 221, Autumn 2024
Reprint of an article on Material Culture and Woven Legends founder George Jevremovic
The man behind the legend
George Jevremovic is the greatest innovator in the rug world. His Woven Legends brought remarkable success to the natural-dye movement, while his auction house, Material Culture, is an important part of today’s market. His colleague James Opie paints a picture of him by picking out key moments in his continuing career
Not all HALI readers may be aware of the remarkable contributions that the American carpet dealer George Jevremovic has made to our field, especially the return to natural dyes. Beyond that important element (to which others also contributed greatly), he succeeded, as no one ever had, in going back a century to the high standards of rug making characterising the 19th century and earlier. He studied how rugs were made back then and used this knowledge to produce rugs that were true to those standards.
W hile developing state-of-theart—yet traditional—productions in Turkey, India, China and Romania, he provided work for thousands of individuals while inspiring other producers who followed him. In total, he showed the rug world what could be done. Even now, he finds ways to address the shifting needs of our time through his auction house and retail store in Philadelphia, Material Culture.
Such a long and productive life may best be communicated by stories, that is, by lived experiences from important turning points along the way. Going back…
It is 1992. George and Teddy Sumner of Michaelian & Kohlberg, partners in Black Mountain Looms —a company they formed in 1989 to produce natural-dyed rugs in India—are travelling to China with Robert Mann, one of the world’s few experts on weaving. Their goal is to introduce naturally dyed rug designs to China. To take a major step forward, Mann has brought an expert spinner from Colorado, Nancy Iona. Nancy will teach a few women to spin A natolian wool by hand, an essential component in rugs this partnership aims to create.
1 Azeri Folklife rug, 1990. Woven Legends
2 Weavers with a just completed Azeri Folklife rug in Karadut village, eastern Turkey, 1990
3 George Jevremovic and colleagues lounging on a Rubia Fish Rug, 1994
4 George Jevremovic, 2024
Upon reaching a remote Chinese town, they step off their minibus, and Nancy falls against a rock, breaking her right arm. They are fortunate to find a local woman knowledgeable in traditional Chinese medicine. Using sticks as a splint, she straightens Nancy’s arm, and the crisis is resolved. Remarkably, Nancy soon reported that her arm felt fine, allowing them to continue as planned. In the following days, Nancy taught a few women how to spin wool, and they, in turn, taught others, eventually leading to hundreds being trained.
With hand spinning established, a natural dye facility was organised and looms built that would begin producing pieces for Black Mountain Looms. Like the rugs made for the parent company, Woven Legends, they would all accord with George’s aims: ‘To meet, or exceed, the highest 19th-century standards.’
Jevremovic’s journey began with what was intended to be a brief visit to Turkey. In his early twenties, George was publishing poetry and considering a career as a writer and teacher. However, after experiencing Turkish culture, he was captivated. After arriving in Istanbul he declined a
teaching fellowship from Syracuse University and found himself unable to leave. In 1979, he was hired to teach English at Üsküdar American Academy, where he ‘fell in love with the city and everything it had to offer’. Olga, his Serbian-born grandmother, had taught him Serbian and instilled in him an appreciation for Ottoman heritage— which fully blossomed in Istanbul. Inevitably, he also developed a fascination with Turkish rugs.
‘I started in the rug business much like others of my generation:
Istanbul bazaar, I spotted a stunning Bergama-style rug in a shop window. It looked both old and new. The colours were not the usual bold hues of contemporary, synthetically-dyed Bergamas but something altogether different. Upon closer inspection, I was certain the rug was new. Yet, those colours... Could this be an antique that had never seen the light of day? The shop owner was surprisingly open and explained that the rug came from a village near Ayvacık, where a weaving project called
His journey began with what was intended to be a brief visit to Turkey
by making a profit on one rug, then a half dozen, then more. By 1981, I was fully immersed in the antique rug business, with a 300-square-foot shop on Pine Street in Philadelphia and making frequent trips to Turkey to buy old rugs for my store. I earned additional income through rug restoration. As much as I enjoyed growing my business in Philadelphia, I was even more drawn to Istanbul.
‘One afternoon in early 1983, while wandering through the
‘DOBAG’ was providing naturally dyed yarns to local weavers.’ By that time, many weavers outside of DOBAG had begun shifting to naturally dyed yarns, just as Harold Böhmer, the German chemist (and rug collector) behind the project, had hoped. Independent dyers were also moving in this new—and old—direction, as more weavers sought naturally dyed yarns. Within days of spotting that single rug, George travelled to Ayvacık, in Çanakkale Province,
and bought over forty pieces for his Philadelphia store.
Woven in the limited spaces available in weavers’ homes, most DOBAG rugs were small. Once George realised how well these new rugs were selling, a question arose: could he create larger pieces that would satisfy the market’s hunger for decorative Heriz, Serapi and Bijar carpets?
By 1986, George had hired rug restorers from Istanbul who had migrated from eastern Turkey. He persuaded them to return to the east, homeland to many Kurdish weavers, to help expand and manage production. With sufficient handspun wool available, they established a natural dyeing facility, connected with weavers, and began weaving rugs.
Soon after, a weaver completed the first Woven Legends Herizinspired design—a piece George has kept all these years to commemorate a pivotal moment in the company’s history ( 5). The imperfections in design and colour, rather than detracting from the piece, led to a careerchanging realisation: ‘We can do this!’ That is, he and his then-wife and business partner Neslihan could make rugs that were more than mere good copies: they could
have inherent qualities of life, similar to pieces made a century earlier. George’s goal was clear: to create ‘new rugs that antique rug lovers would love to own’. Soon, George and Neslihan had established their own wholly owned enterprise in Turkey. With this, George began preparing for the market demand he knew existed, even as he continued to buy and sell antique rugs, sourced in Turkey and
5 The very first Azeri rug produced in Erzurum, 1986
6 Group of Azeri Folklife weavers with recently completed rugs, Damlacık village, eastern Turkey, 1990
and restoration service in Denver, to analyse the weaving structures of 19th-century rugs. Success followed success, and Bob Mann also played a role—along with Hasan and Ahmet Opçin—in developing a large rug restoration facility in the newly opened Aegean Free-Trade Zone of Izmir: Woven Legends Restoration.
The extraordinary successes of Woven Legends and a partner business, Black Mountain Looms, eventually led to the hiring of more than 10,000 individuals across Turkey, India, China, Pakistan and Romania. George recalls an important moment in his work in Turkey: ‘By 1988, we had a great many looms producing rugs in Turkey, but we needed far more. I met with the Governor—Vali—of Adıyaman province, Selahattin Onur, in eastern Turkey. I emphasised our use of dyes derived from “the Turkish earth” and how many jobs we could create, for both hand-spinners and weavers. I needed help, particularly with expanding the number of productive looms. The Governor, warming to my remarks, said he would gladly cooperate by placing looms in many homes, which would boost employment in the province.
7 In situ: Living with a Woven Legends Sardis Mamluk
8 Detail of a Woven Legends Sardis Mamluk rug
from American estates. As Woven Legends expanded its Turkish production, George increased the number of naturally dyed colours from the twelve used by DOBAG weavers to a much broader palette, continuously experimenting and creating new dye formulas.
Realising that achieving the right natural colours was only part of the challenge, he brought in Robert Mann, owner of a washing
‘I thanked him but explained, “Sir, individual looms in homes won’t work, as the rugs will be too small. We need large rooms in shared spaces—an atelier—to produce the sizes we need under supervised conditions. While the weavers will be encouraged to be creative, they still need to follow basic guidelines.”
‘The Governor remembered a large, abandoned building, formerly a tea house that had gone out of business. It was perfect for
my needs. Looms were soon constructed and, with the help of the Governor’s office, weavers were hired who understood that the designs we provided left room for their own improvisations. In time, we had many hundreds of weavers gainfully—even gleefully— employed in the state of Adıyaman. Soon it became well known that Woven Legends always paid on time, and we calculated all wages on a dollar basis, rather than on the hyper-inflated Turkish lira. This helped the weavers—and our shared work—immeasurably.’
Similar conversations with other governors in eastern Turkey led to unprecedented levels of production across more than 100 locations. This period of remarkable growth and success was expertly managed in Turkey by Bulent Ozozan, whom George and Neslihan had met in the 1980s. After initially working for them in Philadelphia, Bulent was convinced to return to Turkey to help oversee operations there. George reflects, ‘With so many moving parts constantly in motion and new efforts continually needing oversight, having Bulent there 24/7 allowed me to sleep at night.’
Operating from my store in Portland, Oregon, I became involved in 1988. With a son and daughter approaching university age, I badly needed additional income. Realising that solely selling antique tribal rugs wouldn’t suffice, I consulted a colleague who advised me: ‘Sell new rugs that are as good as antiques. Go to George Jevremovic
and work your way to the front of the line.’
My first opportunity came at the Atlanta show in January 1989. Visiting the Woven Legends space on the fifth floor, I found no rugs to choose from. Their shipment was delayed in US customs. Then, early in the afternoon, the shipment arrived: over twenty bales of rugs branded as ‘Azeris’. Ropes were cut, bales opened, and a buying frenzy ensued. Lacking experience in the competitive situation that ensued, I bought only two pieces. From that day forward, I followed my Berkeley colleague’s advice and worked my way to the front of the line.
With feeling, George recalls what was required to keep adding to what had been achieved. ‘I would list the productions we wanted to tackle on a particular visit to the looms in eastern Turkey, often using specific fragments of antique rugs as examples for Bob Mann to analyse and learn from. Bob would send a list of warp, weft and pile yarn specifications to Bulent, before our trip. To save time, looms would be warped according to Bob’s
instructions prior to our arrival.
‘At one location, we’d have as many as twenty rug samples ready to start on the looms, with an equal number of weavers. The warp sets would be only twelve or eighteen inches wide, allowing us to observe progress and make adjustments as needed—perhaps to the thickness of the wefts, or features of pile yarns, or even the weaving techniques.
‘On any given trip, we could be working on weaves aimed to
together before my eyes. I said aloud to Bob, “We have captured magic in a bottle,” and he agreed. I knew then that our natural dye palette and hand-spun yarns would be a perfect fit for a type of rug that had always been a favourite of mine.’
Another key moment again involved collaborating with Teddy Sumner. Again they were in China, ex panding productions branded as ‘Little River’. In a remote town, in the home of a local weaver, George looked around at the antique furniture in
Ropes were cut, bales opened, and a buying frenzy ensued
produce traditional Mamluk, Karaja, Serapi, Fine Malayer, Central Anatolian Yastik, Classic Star Ushak, Tekke Turkmen and heavily wefted Tulu weave structures—all at the same time. Our approach was encyclopaedic, eventually covering the widest range of traditions.
‘Once completed, these small samples would be washed, analysed and critiqued by Bob and me. I vividly remember the time I watched a 12 x 12-inch Mamluk sample come
the room and said to Teddy, ‘Have you noticed that the two of us are sitting in a museum of material culture?
Take close look at all the antique furniture within ten feet of us!’ George continues the story:
‘I turned to the woman helping with translations and negotiations and said, “Please ask how much our hostess would charge for the chair I’m sitting in.” After my words were translated, the hostess laughed heartily and said, “There is no charge! Your chair is free!” I replied,
“No, ma’am, I’m serious. I’d like to buy as much of the furniture in this room as you’ll sell to me.”
‘Within a day, tractors had arrived at this property, pulling wagons loaded high with antique chairs, tables and dressers. The dollar costs were so low that Teddy and I insisted on significantly increasing that figure. Soon, Teddy and I formed our company, Material Culture, to sell antique f urnishings from China and beyond. Although Teddy eventually closed his Material Culture store in Chicago, I continued, adding an auction service in 2011 to offer a wider range of objects, including rugs, to an international clientele. Occasionally, Woven Legends rugs from decades past appear for auction, with quite active bidding.’
During a recent visit to George’s 55,000-square-foot space in Philadelphia, he showed me several large, damaged rugs he had collected to begin producing a new line of ottomans and other furnishings. Always thinking, always creating and improvising, with support from his gracious wife Samantha and dozens of dedicated employees… the story of George Jevremovic goes on.
material culture
“The Humiliation of Draupadi”, 198. Sold for $75,000
Figure Sold for $50,000
Tadeusz Brzozowski (Polish, 1918-1987) Sold for $120,000
Krishen Khanna (Indian, 1925)
Thaddeus Mosley ( American, b. 1926) Sold for $53,125
Samuel Robb (American, 18511928) Cigar Store Indian. Sold for $46,876
Pair of Chinese Jeweled Gilt Bronze Foo Dogs Sold for $143,750
Howard Finster (American, 19152001) Henry Ford and Family Dogs Sold for $37,500
Hector Hyppolite (1894-1948)
“Self-Portrait with Family”, C. 1946. Sold for $120,000
Harry Bertoia Sonambient Sculpture Sold for $53,125
African Songye Community Power
Seeking Quality Auction Consignments
Early Central Anatolian Kilim, 17th/18th C. Sold for Record-Breaking $187,500
for $60,800
Chinese Scroll Chin Ying Study Sold for $106,250
Shahrisyabz Suzani, Uzbekistan, Early 19th C. Sold for $40,625
16th C. Tibetan Thangka of Vajra Varahui Sold for $47,500
Salor Chuval, Turkmenistan, 18th Century Sold
Konya Rug Fragment, Central Anatolia, 17th/18th C. Sold for $64,000
