Kilims are flat tapestry

Tapestry

Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, however it can also be woven on a floor loom as well. It is composed of two sets of interlaced threads, those running parallel to the length and those parallel to the width ; the warp threads are set up under tension on a...

-woven carpet

Carpet

A carpet is a textile floor covering consisting of an upper layer of "pile" attached to a backing. The pile is generally either made from wool or a manmade fibre such as polypropylene,nylon or polyester and usually consists of twisted tufts which are often heat-treated to maintain their...

s or rugs produced from the Balkans to Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. Kilims can be purely decorative or can function as prayer rugs

Prayer mat

A prayer rug or prayer mat, , is a piece of fabric to keep the worshipper clean and comfortable during the sajda of salat...

. Recently-made kilims are popular floor-coverings in Western households.

Etymology

The term 'kilim' originates from the Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

 gelim (گلیم) where it means 'to spread roughly'.
Various forms of the word are used in other languages (e.g. Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

: kelim, Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

: κιλίμι, Bosnian

Bosnian language

Bosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina....

: kilim, Albanian

Albanian language

Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...

: qilim, , Kylym, Lithuanian

Lithuanian language

Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...

 kilimas). In Kurdish

Kurdish language

Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....

, they are called 'berr'.

History

Not only pile

Pile weave

Pile weave is a form of textile created by weaving. Pile fabrics used to be made on traditional hand weaving machines. The warp ends that are used for the formation of the pile are woven over metal rods or wires that are inserted in the shed during weaving. The pile ends lie in loops over the...

 carpets were produced in ancient times, but also kilims.

"As kilims are much less durable than rugs that have a pile to protect the warp and weft, it is not surprising that few of great age remain. The oldest piece of which we have any knowledge is a fragment obtained by M. A. Stein, the archaeological explorer, from the ruins near Khotan

Khotan

Hotan , or Hetian , also spelled Khotan, is the seat of the Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang, China. It was previously known in Chinese as 于窴/於窴 and to 19th-century European explorers as Ilchi....

, in Eastern Turkestan

Turkestan

Turkestan, spelled also as Turkistan, literally means "Land of the Turks".The term Turkestan is of Persian origin and has never been in use to denote a single nation. It was first used by Persian geographers to describe the place of Turkish peoples...

, of an ancient settlement, which was buried by sand drifts about the fourth or fifth century CE. The weave

Weaving

Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...

 is almost identical with that of modern kilims, and has about fourteen threads of warp and sixteen threads of weft to the inch. The pattern consists of narrow stripes of blue, green, brownish yellow, and red, containing very small geometric designs. With this one exception, so peculiarly preserved, there are probably very few over a century old."

Weaving technique

Kilims are produced by tightly interweaving the warp

Warp (weaving)

In weaving cloth, the warp is the set of lengthwise yarns that are held in tension on a frame or loom. The yarn that is inserted over-and-under the warp threads is called the weft, woof, or filler. Each individual warp thread in a fabric is called a warp end or end. Warp means "that which is thrown...

 and weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

 strands of the weave to produce a flat surface with no pile. Most kilim weaves are "weft-facing", i.e., the horizontal weft strands are pulled tightly downward so that they hide the vertical warp strands.

When the end of a color boundary is reached, the weft yarn is wound back from the boundary point. Thus, if the boundary of a field is a straight vertical line, a vertical slit forms between the two different color areas where they meet. For this reason, most kilims can be classed as "slit woven" textiles. The slits are beloved by collectors, as they produce very sharp-etched designs, emphasizing the geometry of the weave

Mathematics and fiber arts

Mathematical ideas have been used as inspiration for a number of fiber arts including quilt making, knitting, cross-stitch, crochet, embroidery and weaving...

. Weaving strategies for avoiding slit formation, such as interlocking, produce a more blurred design image.

The weft strands, which carry the visible design and color, are almost always wool, whereas the hidden warp strands can be either wool or cotton. The warp strands are only visible at the ends, where they emerge as the fringe. This fringe is usually tied in bunches, to ensure against loosening or unraveling of the weave. [Source for this description of the weaving: Davies 2000].

Designs

Ardabil

Ardabil

Ardabil is a historical city in north-western Iran. The name Ardabil probably comes from the Zoroastrian name of "Artavil" which means a holy place. Ardabil is the center of Ardabil Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 412,669, in 102,818 families...

 rugs feature motifs that are very similar to Caucasian rugs, but with more motifs and objects woven into the borders. The colors are also lighter. The patterns are predominantly geometric and the most common layouts on Ardabil rugs are medallions, multiple connected diamond-shaped medallions, and all-over octagonal shapes. The most recognized design found on Ardabil rugs is the famous Mahi (Herati) design - a diamond medallion and small fish throughout. Some modern weavers have begun to favor bold geometric patterns over the traditional Mahi (Herati) design and have added colors such as turquoise and purple to the more traditional red, pink, ivory, green, and blue.

Commercial value

Because kilims are often cheaper than pile rugs, beginning carpet collectors often start with them. Despite what many perceive as their secondary (or inferior) status to pile carpets, kilims have become increasingly collectible in themselves in recent years, with quality pieces now commanding high prices.

What some sensed as inferiority was actually a different nature of rugs woven for indigenous use as opposed to rugs woven on a strictly commercial basis. Because kilims were not a major export commodity, there were no foreign market pressures changing the designs, as happened with pile carpets. Once collectors began to value authentic village weaving, kilims became popular. Now, many kilims are woven for export.

Persian

• Ordinary kilims: this type of kilim is woven with hemp, cotton and also wool threads.
• Gunny kilim: this special type is woven with varicolored pieces of cloth.
• Suzāni kilim: this type is embroidered with raised figures after the ordinary kilim is woven.
• Needlework kilim: this type of kilim is hung on the wall and is woven with cotton threads.
• Jol: this is a kind of kilim the surface of which is embroidered. With its decorative designs, it is used as horse saddles.
• Palās: this is a kind of kilim in which each color is used for weaving several rajs, it does not have a pile. Palas is also the name used for the coarse woollen robes dervish wear.
• Jājim or chador-shab: this is a kind of striped carpet woven with colored threads and thinner than palas.
• Zilu: this is a kind of kilim woven with cotton threads and simple designs quite in harmony with rural life. It has a cotton warp and weft.
• Rakht-e-khāb pich (bed-packing kilims): this type of kilim is used by migrating tribes.
• Charkhi-bāf kilim: this is a kind of sturdy and thick kilim only one side of which can be used.
• Khorjin (saddle-bags) and Juwals: these kilims are used for carrying goods.
• Gilimcheh (small kilims): these are woven like kilims but tiny and decorative.
• Masnads: these are sturdy and fine-woven decorative kilimeches.
• Navār-chādor (tent-band): this type of kilim is decorative.
• Sajādeh (prayer kilims): these are woven with altar designs and are used for praying.
• Ghigh: this kilim is used for the walls of tents; both of its side are the same and can be used alike.
• Rah Rah: These kilims (or, more precisely, soumak rug
  Soumak rug
  Soumak rugs are a type of Oriental rug belonging to the family of flat weaves. The technique of making a soumak involves wrapping wefts over four warps before drawing them back under the last two warps. The process is repeated from selvedge to selvedge. Soumaks tend to be finely woven, and...
  
  s) are woven mostly in the Sirjan region and are also called khatti design kilims. Ardebil and Moghan are woven in the same design but in lower qualities.

Anatolian

These kilims are traditionally distinguished by the areas, villages or cities in which they are produced, such as Konya

Konya

Konya is a city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. The metropolitan area in the entire Konya Province had a population of 1,036,027 as of 2010, making the city seventh most populous in Turkey.-Etymology:...

, Malatya

Malatya

Malatya ) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of its eponymous province.-Overview:The city site has been occupied for thousands of years. The Assyrians called the city Meliddu. Following Roman expansion into the east, the city was renamed in Latin as Melitene...

, Karapinar

Karapinar

Karapınar is a town and district of Konya Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. According to 2000 census, population of the district is 55,734 of which 35,285 live in the town of Karapınar. Volcanic Karapınar Field is located nearby....

 and Hotamis. Most Anatolian kilims are slit woven. Larger antique kilims were woven in two to three separate c. three feet wide long strips and carefully sown together, matching the patterns.

• Cicim or Jijim or Jajim: striped kilims woven in narrow strips that are sown together.

Sources

[The first edition of this book was published by Rizzoli International in 1993 as "The Tribal Eye: Antique kilims of Anatolia" ISBN 0847817059 9780847817054 9780847817054 0847817059]

• Yanni Petsopoulos, Kilims: Flat Woven Tapestry Rugs, Rizzoli, 1979, ISBN 0-847-80245-0