Werner Kelim rug green

The kilim rug. Woven in culture. The story of the original handmade kilim.

Our kilim rug is a flat hand-woven, van oosterse oorsprong. Het is waarschijnlijk de vroegst bekende vorm van tapijtkunst. De naam Kelim is Turks en komt van het Perzische gelim (گلیم).

The kilim technique has traditionally been practised in Anatolia, the Caucasus and North Africa. Our kilims are hand-woven in Morocco.

The special thing about the kilim weaving technique is that the patterns are usually the same on both sides, so there is no front or back. A kilim can be used as rug or wall hanging. The most commonly used material for kilim patterns is wool, and cotton is used for the warp threads. The traditionally used colors are red, pink, ivory, blue, and green.

History of the kilim rug.

Just like pile rugs, kilim rugs have been produced since antiquity. The explorer Mark Aurel Stein found kilims in Hotan, China, dating from at least the fourth or fifth century AD:

"Since kilims are much less durable than rugs with a pile to protect the warp and weft, it is not surprising that few great ages remain... The weave is almost identical to that of modern kilims, and has approximately fourteen warp threads and sixteen weft threads per inch. The pattern consists of narrow stripes of blue, green, brownish-yellow, and red, with very small geometric motifs. With this one exception, which is so exceptionally well preserved, there are probably very few more than a century old."

Handmade wool Kelim rug available in various sizes.

Weaving technique

Diagram of the kilim slit weaving technique, showing how the weft threads of each color are rewound from the color boundary, creating a slit.

Kilim fabrics are manufactured by closely interweaving the warp and weft threads of the fabric to create a flat, pileless surface. Kilim fabrics are rug fabrics, technically woven flat with weft faces, meaning that the horizontal weft threads are pulled tightly downwards to conceal the vertical warp threads.

Kelim rug - six different sizes available 170x240cm, 200x250cm, 200x300cm and 250x300cm.

Please note: the rugs are handmade and are therefore never exactly the same size (for example, a rug is 242x177 instead of 240x170).

Pure new wool is naturally dirt-repellent and resilient, and is washed and carded rather than chemically softened, which keeps the fibre elastic and ensures the rug will last for years.