Zamira Komilova

Knot by Knot, A Legacy Endures

In Zamira Komilova’s workshop, time bends to tradition. Her love for hand-knotted silk carpets began at an early age when her grandmother taught her to tie her first knots on the loom. Today, Zamira’s workshop is in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, where she works with a team of 25 weavers, primarily women. She began making carpets in 1990, designing and sketching each carpet before it was woven. With the aid of technology, her designs are now created on the computer before being hand-knotted using traditional techniques. Zamira’s process reflects the care and precision of her ancestors while embracing technological innovations to produce her traditional designs more swiftly. Nonetheless, the average carpet takes about six months to complete.

Zamira sources natural dyes—pomegranate skins for deep reds and walnut husks for earthy browns. The density of her hand-tied knots, sometimes reaching 1,000 per square inch, gives her carpets their distinctive texture and strength. Yet it’s her motifs that resonate most vividly: suns for protection, geometric rhombic shapes symbolizing people, and ancient patterns that have traversed the Silk Road for centuries. Each design preserves a piece of Uzbek life, passed down as stories whispered through generations. 

In Bukhara, weaving is a communal act. Mothers teach their daughters, grandmothers trim the piles, and often, dozens of hands contribute to a single piece. The finished carpets are not merely art; they are dowries, coverings, and legacies. Zamira Komilova’s work is the quiet heartbeat of her community: resilient, enduring, and woven with purpose. In every knot, her hands preserve the past and carry it forward, ensuring that Uzbek carpet weaving remains not just seen but felt.