This home is full of stories from the Silk Road

The Hairy Tulu

No story starring Danny is complete without a mention of his 14-year-old twin Labradors, Luri and Tulu, lovingly named after two nomadic tribes whose carpets the collector has long admired. Tulu means hairy in Turkish and the unshaven, wooly carpet placed in the hero spot of Danny’s home justifies its moniker. “This comes from the Taurus Mountains in Turkey, it is actually a shepherd's sleeping bag. They roll it up and carry it on their backs, and when they get tired, open it out on the ground to use it,” he explains, adding that the flip side of the carpet is without warm bristles, making it adaptable for the summer months.

Ode to Hans Memling

As the collector walks through his three-storeyed apartment, revealing tales of the many carpets he has acquired, it becomes increasingly evident that this fondness isn’t just about superficial beauty but is informed by a desire to deeply study his objects. How else do you attain such specificity in knowledge? Speaking of a carpet from present day Uzbekistan, Danny says, “The ram’s horns motif along the border signifies male fertility. But what’s really interesting here are the flowers, they are called Memling Woods after Flemish painter Hans Memling. He would paint a carpet at the top of a church altar that was decorated with this kind of icon. Somehow it travelled to the tribal people and they began to weave the same design.” While the connoisseur is unsure of how this cultural exchange took place, it is the wondrous lack of clarity that drew him to this carpet.

The Tattered Frames

In a time when trends swap over on the daily, leaving many objects discarded in the dust, Danny has his heart set on conserving every rug that makes its way into his home. The collector has built a makeshift preservation studio in his apartment where a team of artisans wash, sew and repair the age-old carpets. As for the bits and bobs that are too far gone? “They are 200 years old so I don't want to throw them away, I kept them all in a suitcase. Then one day, Renuka and her friend decided to take those remnants and create these canvases,” he says, of a wooden frame that holds pieces of tattered carpet borders within it, turning even scraps into art.

Green with Envy

Pointing at a Caucasian carpet that has been with him for two decades, Danny says, “This one is extra special because of the abundance of green in it.” Here’s another fact that only a collector would know: in the 19th century, even though people were surrounded by flora and fauna, it was difficult to create the colour green. “You could boil leaves and grass to make the dye but it’s unstable and would fade soon,” he adds. So, weavers would dye wool in yellow and then dip it in blue to create green dyes which was a labour-intensive process, making the colour rare in vintage carpets. “In fact, there was a German collector named Olrich Schulman who had a fascination with green, if he spotted a green carpet he would outbid everyone for it,” Danny says, smiling.

The Mariachi Band

Even at first glance, this carpet that weaves the scene of a Mariachi band in action, stands apart from Danny’s otherwise abstract collection. “This is probably the only piece I have from South America,” the collector says. So, what inspired him to break away from his Silk Route-only rule to include this colourful carpet? “I was seduced by its visual beauty, it’s so happy. I also really like the square format, it makes the iconography more attractive,” he says. Don’t forget to notice the three dots on the bottom right corner; the collector supposes this mark is the artist’s signature.