Anatolian handcrafts, with a wide spectrum of high quality samples, constitute a valuable part of the national cultural inheritance. These artifacts, reflecting specific messages through form, colour and design with high aesthetic values and possessing traditional and functional characteristics.These new examples, enables the preservation of the traditional inheritance by applying and using it to suit the requirements of contemporary life styles by keeping their original design, technique and characteristics of area. These handcraft items ranging from replicas of works from various cultural periods evolved during the flow of history in Anatolia, to authentic or contemporary examples of modern craftsmen.
History of Rug and Kilim WeavingAlthough no one knows presicely when and where the technique of weaving first started, There
is no doubt that the weaving art, in general, started in Central Asia. A popular explosion coused the inhabitants of that area to migrate to the western parts of Asia in order to find more presperous land. These migrating tribes were caled yoruks or nomadic tribes. During their migrations, these nomads, who were exposed to severe weather conditions, learned to use goat hair in the making of their tents. Goat hair is longer and much siffer than sheep's wool. The flatweave technique was used in the making of nomadic tents.
Just as with a little girl's braided pony-tail where strants of the shorter and stiffer hair
stick out, the goat hair sticks out of the woven fabric, gets wet, drops and partially cover
the holes in the flatweave, thus making tent almost waterproof. Later on, these nomadic people felt the need to isolate themselves from the humidity present in the earthen foolrs of their tents. They then applied the very same techniques of flatweave to the making of
of floor coverings and called them "Kilims". Since this was the area of paganism, most flatweave designs reflected stylised depictions of the worshipped sembols.
Over a period of time, the art of weaving improved and many items usefull in every day
life were woeven-for example saddle bags for horses and camels that could be used in
the transportation of many types of items. The Yoruks also wove kilims with goat hair
and used them as warm blankets since the fibers were so long-just as in today's Siirt blankets.
These early blanket were woven in imitation of actual animal felts. Kilims were also woven
as room dividers in the tents, as well as for cradles, with the corners tied to the overhead tent poles so that the cradle could be swung back and forth to rock the babies to sleep. These many types of woven products improved over time with additional uses developed on an evolutionary basis.
At first the nomads, who strictly lived in tents, stacked dried leaves and lay them in the corners of their tents and used the soft stacks as beds. Under the weight of the sleepers, the beds rapidly turned into dust and provided little comfort, thus causing frequent replacement. Then in a further inspiration of using animal pelts as a model, the nomads started to add pile to the basic flatweaves. These first pile rugs were very supple, the nomads would simply fold and throw them on a horse's back to be used as a sleeping bag during their long voyages.
We are passionated about Kelims and Rugs and may be you would be interested
to know about Kilims/Kelims.
you can visit our recommended website....
![Navigation icons 17[1]](0_0_0_0_46_15_csupload_15993458.png?u=268236183 "Navigation icons 17[1]")
Language of Motif
