Hajji Baba Club names 2026–2027 research fellows

The Hajji Baba Club selected Cosima Stewart and Adela Foo as its 2026–2027 Research Fellows to support original scholarship on carpets and textiles. The two projects focus on Georgian weaving and Aq Quyunlu-era carpets, advancing research in areas of attribution, material culture and regional textile history.

Why it matters: - The Hajji Baba Club Research Fellowship backs emerging scholarship in carpets and textiles with financial support and visibility. - The 2026–2027 awards go to two projects that expand research on Caucasus weaving and fifteenth-century Islamic art. - The fellowship is intended to encourage object-centered study of textiles, carpets and their cultural context.

What happened: - The Hajji Baba Club named Cosima Stewart and Adela Foo as its 2026–2027 Research Fellows. - The Fellowship Committee chose two co-fellows from a strong and diverse applicant pool. - Zach Zaman, president of the Hajji Baba Club, said the two projects reflect the kind of rigorous research the fellowship was created to encourage.

The details: - Cosima Stewart is a researcher and publication coordinator at HALI Publications Ltd. in London and creative director of reWoven, a nonprofit in Tbilisi that supports weaving traditions in Azerbaijani communities in Georgia. - Stewart’s project, Lost Connections: Wool and Weaving in 19th Century Georgia, uses archival research, technical analysis, museum collections and fieldwork in Georgia, Azerbaijan and eastern Türkiye. - The project examines rug weaving in the Caucasus and looks at the links among landscape, pastoralism, wool production and weaving traditions in nineteenth-century Georgia. - Stewart’s research aims to clarify Georgia’s place in the history of weaving in the Caucasus. - Adela Foo is a doctoral candidate at Yale University. - Foo’s fellowship project is the third chapter of her dissertation on the Aq Quyunlu, or “White Sheep,” Turkmen confederation that ruled much of Iran, Iraq and eastern Anatolia in the fifteenth century. - Foo focuses on three carpets held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. - Foo studies weavers as agents of artistic, political and technological change. - Her research reconsiders the attribution of the “Para-Mamluk” carpet group in relation to the Aq Quyunlu. - The project traces a visual language across Herat, Tabriz and Istanbul. - The Hajji Baba Club says the fellowship promotes original scholarship in carpets and textiles. - The club was founded in New York City in 1932 and describes itself as the oldest organization in America devoted to oriental carpets and antique textiles. - Its educational work includes lectures, exhibitions, publications, field trips, fellowships and other programs. - The announcement included contact details for Dr. Heather Ecker, Fellowship Chair, and social links for Instagram and Facebook: Instagram and Facebook.

Between the lines: - The dual award signals a broad view of textile scholarship, with one project centered on regional weaving history and the other on attribution and cross-cultural artistic exchange. - The fellowship is also a signal boost for early-career researchers working across museum collections, archives and fieldwork. - The project descriptions suggest the club values research that links objects to production systems, trade networks and historical context.

What's next: - Stewart and Foo are expected to carry out their fellowship research during the 2026–2027 award period. - Their findings could add new evidence to debates over Georgian weaving traditions and the origins and movement of early carpets. - The club will likely continue using the fellowship to spotlight new scholarship in carpets and textiles.

The bottom line: - The Hajji Baba Club is funding two research projects that could reshape how scholars understand weaving in the Caucasus and carpets in the Persianate world.