OTDELA – Dyer of felt

My name is Otdela, I’m married with Tilek. We do have two children; the oldest is 21, the younger 19. I’m born in Osh, a city in the south of Kyrgyzstan, close to the border with Uzbekistan.

Osh is one of the oldest cities of Central-Asia – estimated to be more than 3000 years old – and long ago it was a settlement along the ancient Silk Road.

Together with my husband we do have a small business: we are making wool felt – by hand! – which is also dyed by hand. For SiRo we dye their machine-made felt. This felt is better suited for their bags and is purchased somewhere else in the country. I think it’s great we can work together in this way!