I love being surprised by people and even objects. For example, I am always fascinated when someone who initially seems rather traditional or conventional begins to reveal extraordinary ideas, or when an object looks totally different from different perspectives.

Take this felt wall hanging with silk embroidery. When I first saw it I thought it was quite beautiful, reminiscent of other early 20th-century Central Asian wall hangings I have seen.

Then when I saw this backing fabric (a printed cotton cloth from Russia), I was really surprised and fascinated. I never would have imagined the front and the back together.

Now look at this  woman's robe. It's probably from Uzbekistan and dates back to the late 19th - early 20th century. And it's shown here inside out!  In Central Asia when this was made, it was customary to create solid-color silk robes and then line them with Russian cotton prints patchworked together. I love how extraordinary this robe is inside and out, and also the idea that the busiest and in some ways most complex part of it is actually kept rather private.

So often we pay the most attention to what is obvious. Personally, I'm often more intrigued by what isn't.

 (All photos from Russian Textiles: Printed Cloths for the Bazaars of Central Asia. For more on this book, see this earlier post.)

Recently, a friend of mine who is also an editor at Abrams (of which STC is a part) showed me a book she edited that fascinated me. It's called Russian Textiles. It focuses on printed-cotton fabrics created and manufactured in Russia from about 1860 to 1960, specifically for export to Central Asia, as well as the political, economic, and cultural ties between Russia and the Central Asian region (which includes Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrygystan). Here are just three of the nearly 200 textile patterns featured. The first two are linings from robes. The third one is part of a series of fabrics in which Russian designers tried to depict ways in which the Soviets had "improved" the lives of the Central Asian people.