Who is Julijs Straume?

The main guy of the project, that's who he is! The "king of carpets". The one and only.

To be honest it is not easy to find information about this man, most of it is in russian. But we managed to scrap some information:


Jūlijs Straume ( July 2, 1874 - November 1, 1970) born in Druviena parish, Russian Empire (now - Gulbene Municipality of Latvia). - Latvian textile artist figure, educator and ethnographer. Honored Art Worker of the Latvian SSR.

Studied in Jelgava and in St. Petersburg. Improved and perfected his skills in Paris (1905-1907).

From 1907 to 1923 he lived in Georgia, collected and studied Caucasian folk decorative and applied art. In 1923, he returned to Latvia. 

Died November 1, 1979 in Riga, Latvia.

While being in the Caucasus, he made a rich collection of examples of folk weaving (carpets). Unveiled the album "Caucasian carpets" (Volume 1, 1913). Performed sketches of carpets with typical Latvian applied arts folklore and ethnographic motives, using the principle of oriental composition.

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Martins "chuks" Piebalgs