Uşak evil eye kilim rug - medium

Brimming with colour and pattern, this stunning hand-made rug will add a wonderful warm touch to wooden floorboards, or elevate your interior as an art piece hanging on the wall. The one-of-a-kind rug was made by skilled artisans using historic weaving techniques in Uşak, western Turkey.

Replete with symbolism, the rug is woven with motifs and patterns that carry powerful meaning. The design of large stepped diamond medallions contains eye-like forms that represent the evil eye, or nazarlik, a protective emblem that functions as a shield against the ancient curse of a malevolent glare. The wolf’s mouth, or kurt ağzi, guards against danger and harmful forces.

Kilim rugs carry the fingerprint of their maker, with each element from weave to geometric alignment, dye tones to decorative design, bearing the hallmarks of the region where the rug was made and the textile traditions of that area. Uşak, in western Turkey, was the historic centre of carpet-weaving in the Ottoman Empire during the 15th and 16th centuries. Kilim rugs from Uşak typically feature geometric or striped patterns crafted from hand-spun wool.

Kilim weaving was traditionally practised by women using techniques passed from mother to daughter, working without drawing boards or fixed templates, making each piece a unique expression of the maker’s artistry. This rug was made using the cicim method, a supplementary flat-weave technique where decorative pattern threads are added onto a plain-weave ground fabric to create a colourful raised design that sits proud of the surface.

Selected by the V&A, each piece has been sourced and professionally cleaned by a specialist partner.