A caterpillar turning into a butterfly!
Hello everybody!
My name is Haluk Sönmez. I live in the province of Denizli which is located on the west of Turkey. I make a living by weaving Turkish towels and blankets for my family.
My story started in Denizli almost 30 years ago. When I was just a young boy, with the encouragement of my father, I began working for a friend of him who was a weaver. My mother had been struggling with the cancer. That's why, my brothers and I were clamped together. Because we were aware that this is the only way we could get through the rough days.
In all honest, I didn't like this job at first because of the naive feelings given by the youth. I was thinking as “weaving is not for me”. But I continued to work, exerting myself to the utmost. All my effort was to support my family in the difficult conditions of that period. As I continued, I loved my job. My father's friend, Master Selahattin patiently taught me all the tricks of weaving Turkish towels over the years.
I had been working with Master Selahattin for 10 years. On the evening of a very busy day, while we were taking off our aprons to go home, my master took me his side and said: “Haluk, you are no different than my own son for me. You know that my children are not with me; each of them built up their own lives in different lands. I am too old for this job now, I want to spend the last years of my life resting with my wife. Therefore, this workshop is now yours. I am not worrying about anything else because all these will be at the hands of a talented master like you!"
After that day, I continued to work on my own. Designing and weaving Turkish towels and blankets became the meaning of life for me. The years passed in this way and one day a couple of American tourists, Michael and Laura, came to my workshop with their backpacks. They literally fell in love with my products. They told me about Etsy and so introducing my unique products to the world. I just showed the white feather, but over time I liked the idea and "why not?" I said. As a result, I am in the presence of you with my hand-woven Turkish towels and blankets.
I produce the Turkish towels, loincloths, blankets and bedspreads on my hand operated looms, which you can see on the web page of my Etsy shop. First of all, I draw a pattern depending on the product I will start weaving. Then I tie a large ball of yarn to my loom. This thread is the vertical threads called "warp" which form the main skeleton of the towel in some way. There are also threads that we call "weft". These are horizontal threads on the towel and are attached to the tool called the shuttle that moves very quickly to the left and right on the weaving loom. After the weaving process is completed, I scisssor the warp threads and separate the towels from each other. After the fringes on the end of the towel are tied, I finally check the quality control and a towel is ready for sale in this way.
I myself produce towels, loincloths and blankets in hundreds of unique models, which both I learned from my master and designed myself over the years. I make an effort to present my numerous kinds of products to you as soon as possible in this small shop that I have opened in Etsy. So that please stay tuned for all the items in my inventory and more!
Haluk Sönmez
Towel Master
