Tashkent · Fergana Valley · Samarkand
Craft week: ikat & ceramics
5 days · small group, 10 max · from $1,310 per person
Five days with the makers — silk, clay, paper and bread.
Uzbekistan's crafts never became museum pieces; they stayed jobs. This journey goes to the sources: the silk-ikat ateliers of Margilan where patterns are tied into thread before dyeing, the ceramics dynasties of Rishtan with their quiet blue glazes, Samarkand's mulberry-paper mill, and the bakers who stamp the city's bread. You will watch, ask, try, fail pleasantly, and carry home things with names attached.
Day by day
The shape of the journey
Day 1
Tashkent hands-on
The Chorsu bazaar's craft rows, the Applied Arts museum for vocabulary, and an evening non-baking session at a mahalla tandir.
Day 2
Into the valley
Morning train through the Kamchik pass to Margilan. Afternoon in an ikat atelier: warp-tying, the dye vats, and the loom room's rhythm.
Day 3
Rishtan blue
A day with a ceramics master's family — wedging local clay, the ishkor glaze from desert plants, and your own tile fired to follow you home. Evening return toward Tashkent.
Day 4
Samarkand materials
The fast train west. Konigil mulberry-paper mill in the poplar shade, then a suzani embroidery circle — patterns that are wishes in disguise.
Day 5
The Registan, earned
Having met the crafts, read the square like a maker: the tile crews' signatures, the restorations, the originals. Afternoon train home.
Included
- 4 nights boutique accommodation (The Heritage Tashkent in the capital)
- All rail and valley transfers
- All workshop fees and materials, incl. your fired Rishtan piece shipped if needed
- Craft-specialist guide; groups of 8 maximum
- Breakfasts and three artisan-hosted lunches
Not included
- International flights and visa support (we assist on request)
- Dinners
- Personal purchases (you will make some; budget joyfully)
Asked often
Good questions
Do I need any skill?
None. The masters teach beginnings; the point is understanding, not production. Your tile will still be yours.
Is this a shopping tour?
No commissions, no staged stops. We go where the work is real; buying is optional and prices are the workshop's own.
When does it run?
Monthly, March–November. The valley is loveliest in May and September.