In Kochkor, three hours from Bishkek along the switchbacks of the A365, I watched Altynai Orozbaeva cut a kochkor müiz — the ram’s horn spiral — into two sheets of pressed wool. One vermilion, one cream. She worked without a template, guided only by the felt’s own grain.
Two Sheets, One Pattern
The logic is elegant: cut the same shape into both sheets simultaneously, swap the cutouts, stitch the positive of one into the negative of the other. The result is a bilateral mirror — symmetry so clean it reads as inevitable. Two halves, one pattern, zero waste.
“The felt knows its own shape. I just follow the line where it wants to be cut.”
— Altynai Orozbaeva, master felt artisan, Kochkor