Reading a kilim
Eyes, horns, hands on hips and running hooks: the motifs of the flat-woven rug, and why their meanings are best held lightly.
A kilim is a flat-woven rug. Unlike a pile carpet, which is made of thousands of tied knots, a kilim is woven only from warp and weft. Weavers pack coloured wefts tightly over the warps so the warp threads disappear, and each colour is turned back at the edge of its shape.
Where two colours meet along a vertical line, that turning leaves a narrow gap between them. This is why kilims are sometimes called slit-woven, and it explains their look: stepped diagonals, diamonds, hooks and zigzags, rather than smooth curves. The grid of the loom shapes the pattern.
Our Kilim collection redraws motifs from Anatolia, the Caucasus, Persia and the Atlas mountains on a true weave grid, in madder, indigo, saffron and undyed wool. Before looking at the motifs themselves, it helps to say something about meaning.
A word of caution
Many books and shop labels give each kilim motif a fixed meaning. Some of these interpretations are widely repeated and may well reflect what weavers intended. But most kilims were made by women in villages and nomadic households who did not write their reasons down, and motifs vary from weaver to weaver, village to village and generation to generation. The same shape can be read in different ways.
So the meanings below are offered as common readings, not certainties. They are a way into looking closely, which is the real pleasure of a kilim.
The eye
Small diamonds with a dot or square at their centre are often read as eyes, woven to turn away the evil eye. Protection is one of the most frequently suggested purposes of kilim motifs, and the eye is the plainest form of it. Our Lozenge Field print sets a field of stepped lozenges, each ringed in saffron and cream around a small woven diamond.
Elibelinde, hands on hips
Elibelinde is Turkish for hands on hips. The figure has a head, a body and two arms bent at the waist, reduced to a few stepped lines. It is one of the most widely used Anatolian motifs and is commonly interpreted as a female figure linked to motherhood, fertility and abundance. Our Kilim Motifs print shows one in cream on madder, beside a pair of ram’s horns and a stepped eye.
Ram’s horn
The ram’s horn, koçboynuzu in Turkish, appears as a pair of spirals or angular hooks curling outward. It is usually read as a sign of strength and of the male principle, and it is often found woven near the elibelinde, a pairing some writers interpret as a picture of a household or a marriage. Our Ram’s Horn print alternates upright and inverted pairs in staggered rows on indigo.
Hooks and the running dog
Hooks are everywhere in kilims: on the edges of diamonds, along borders, at the tips of medallions. Hooked shapes are often described as protective too. Latch Hook fills the whole sheet with hooked diamonds in saffron, cream and madder.
Running dog is a name used by dealers and collectors for a border of hooks that all turn the same way, so the band seems to move along the edge of the rug. It is a description of how the border looks rather than a weaver’s term, and we have not found a reliable meaning attached to it. Our Running Dog print keeps the border and leaves the field almost empty, with one small diamond at its centre.
Hooked medallions
Large medallions with hooked or stepped edges dominate many Anatolian and Caucasian rugs. They are often the first thing you notice, but their meaning is the least settled of all. It is probably wisest to enjoy them as what they plainly are: strong, balanced shapes that organise the whole surface. Medallion and Kazak Shields show two approaches, a single central form and a column of stacked shields.
The meanings are a way into looking closely, which is the real pleasure of a kilim.
What the weave itself tells you
Some of the most interesting things in a kilim are not motifs at all. Abrash is the name for the bands of slightly different colour that appear when a new batch of dyed wool comes into use part way through the weaving. Water Road follows stepped zigzag bands across the whole surface. Prayer Niche shows a stepped arch over a woven tree of life, a layout found in many rugs.
Hanging kilim prints
Kilim patterns are strong, so they work well in rooms with plain walls and natural materials: wood, linen, clay. A single large print can anchor a sitting room in the way a rug anchors a floor. If you prefer something quieter, the undyed prints such as Atlas Lattice, Atlas Marks and Hanbel carry the same language in charcoal and cream.