I probably should emphasize, here, at the beginning, that I am suggesting that we talk widely about what oriental rugs and textiles we think are likely to be collected in year 2101.

Although I have made an argument in my opening essay, suggesting that some items collected a hundred years from now are likely to be drawn from those currently being produced with hand-spun wools and natural dyes, I do not mean for this suggestion to limit other possibilities in any way. In fact, I am prepared, if they do not arise in the discussion, to make some quite different suggestions myself.

So please do not feel limited by, or get too preoccupied with, my initial suggestion.

Let's speculate widely.

Regards,

R. John Howe

Did you really mean to say "speculate WILDLY"?

The first criterion for collecting rugs in 2101 is that collectors will only be able to collect rugs that actually survive until then.
Discounting the possibility that "life as we know it" will not exist then, and assuming that social and cultural conditions are similar enough that a student of history would not be completely astonished by our current primitive lifestyle, collectors will collect rugs that will fit in their homes.
Most collectors today cannot fit any more than a few 10'x15' rugs in their homes. This makes the "collecting" of large modern "folk" style rugs unlikely. The trend of dense urban development suggests smaller homes and multi-family buildings. This would argue for collecting of smaller pieces.
In conclusion, I propose a frantic, urgent, manic group of Dyzlik collectors will develop. Poorer collectors will have to satisfy themselves with those small Pakistani Bokkara mats, of which there are several million extant.

Speculatively yours,

Patrick Weiler

Agreed, there's no accounting for taste --- or lack of it.

But what do you think folks like us will collect in 2101?

Regards,

R. John Howe

NK