From Rugs to Riches : Fortunes Soar for Kilims, Tribal Flat-Weave Carpets

For centuries kilims, tribal flat-weave carpets, were the poor relations to their richer cousins, the opulent pile carpets of Turkey, Persia and China.

But in rags-to-riches fashion, these kilims from the Middle East and Eastern Europe are now the popular weaves that have made themselves at home in contemporary as well as traditional decors.

“Kilims make a big statement for what they cost,” said interior designer Kaye LaVene of Laguna Beach. “And they go with any environment.”

The basic characteristics of kilims are: strong, simple geometry; intense color; linear irregularities, and an obvious difference between the central design and the background. In fact, kilims are a lot like flattened, functional, abstract artworks. And that is probably the best way to think of them when buying one: If you like the pattern and it works in your house, buy it. Don’t be talked into buying it for an investment.

Lawrence O. Lawrence, owner of Newport Center’s British Country Style and a kilim rug store in Santa Monica, has been buying and appreciating kilim rugs for decades.

“I bought my first piece in the late ‘50s and knew nothing about it. I just thought it was nice, and frankly I couldn’t afford a fabulous Persian rug. I had never even heard the word kilim , so I bought a book to learn about it. Then I bought a few more rugs. Then a few more books. And so on. I didn’t become a dealer until about 10 years ago.”

His experience demonstrates an inherent danger in buying kilims: They’re a bit like peanuts; most people can’t stop after just one.

Kilims can range from $50 to $4,500, depending mainly on their attractiveness.

“Age and pedigree have some value, and certain people look for those things. But, for the most part, if it looks good, it is good. There are wonderful pieces made three days ago in Turkey and terrible pieces made 200 years ago in Persia,” Lawrence said.

When buying a kilim, look for a rug that is well-made and has good color balance and design.

“I also like to look for pieces that are charmingly made, perhaps by a nomad who was not counting stitches and midway through the piece got bored with one design, so she stuck in a duck or some other figure. Any piece that makes me smile or shows the artist’s hand I like,” Lawrence said.

Although Lawrence likes the idiosyncratic pieces and considers some pieces too well-balanced and thought out, others prefer a true geometric design. Because no two kilims are alike, there are versions that appeal to widely varied tastes. And they all are evocative of another place, another time.

Although few flat-weave carpets have survived that are more than 250 years old, kilims have been important pieces of decorative, practical and portable furniture for the people of the Middle East and Asia for centuries.

They were widely made for personal use because it was both easier and cheaper to make a carpet than to buy one. The Eastern European pieces were usually made indoors, while the Middle Eastern ones were done outdoors on a portable loom. The nomadic pieces have a limited size, usually around 5 feet, 7 inches in length, because that’s as far as a person can reach when sitting and weaving. Larger pieces require larger, non-portable looms.

Kilims were traditionally used as tent floor coverings, cushions, storage bags on horses and camels, bedding covers and welcoming gifts. Because kilims were often part of marriage dowries, in a wealthy house dowry kilims could be piled around the room to represent abundance.

“Where the Ottomans went, they brought a tradition of weaving that was not native to countries like Yugoslavia,” Lawrence said. The Ottoman Empire, which lasted 600 years until its end in 1918, expanded to include a vast region before it gradually lost ground.

The Ottomans’ legacy to kilims remains, and Turkey, or Anatolia, where the floral-patterned Ottoman flat-weaves began, is today the leading kilim-producing nation in both quality and quantity. The advantage to these modern kilims is that they can be made to order and made in different colors, sizes and patterns.

The original dyes used were all natural. In ancient times the art of dyeing yarn was often a secret formula that families carried to the grave. Natural dyes came from vegetables, flowers, insects, earth and fruit.

In many of the new kilims, chemical dyes are used. Some of the early colors were too vivid and bright, sometimes resulting in garish rugs.

In the past 30 years, some chemical dyes have become indistinguishable, when used properly, from natural dyes. However, during that same period, natural-dye kilims have begun to be more prized and their prices have gone up.

“Seven or eight years ago I could buy large kilims for $135 each,” Lawrence said. “I had choices of thousands of them, and I thought there was an unending supply. Today they are becoming harder to find, and I pay $800 to $1,200 for them.”

Besides colors and patterns changing from region to region, tribe to tribe, the raw materials used in kilims also vary. Throughout central Asia, much of the yarn comes from sheep, and the quality of wool from all sheep depends entirely on climate and pasture: A cool, dry climate giving rise to a fleece that is much finer and silkier than that from the hot, dusty plains. Other sources for yarn include camels, goats and horses. Silk is rarely woven into kilims.

It is possible to make a life-study of kilims if you want to recognize what tribe created which rug, what it is made of and how old it is. It is also possible to know nothing at all except that they are beautiful as functional works of art that can be enjoyed for years and in a multitude of ways.

The colorful kilim can be used as a rug over another rug or sisal carpeting, can be hung on the wall as a tapestry, thrown over a couch or chair as a easy slipcover, made into pillows and purses or used to cover a table.

“Since some of the kilims are long, narrow tent pieces, they can be used as runners on a table, nailed around the top of the wall as a molding or even used as fabric wallpaper,” Lawrence said.

And that is because--in addition to the color, texture and imagery they bring to a room--the lightness and pliability of kilims help make them a decorator’s dream.