Eşme green & red evil eye kilim rug - large

A beautiful addition to a bedroom or sitting room, this ornate and colourful vintage rug can also be hung on the wall for you and your guests to admire. The one-of-a-kind rug was crafted by hand in a village near the town of Eşme in Turkey’s Aegean region using weaving techniques passed down through generations.

Replete with symbolism, the one-of-a-kind rug is woven with motifs and patterns that carry powerful meaning. The evil eye, or nazarlik, is a protective motif that functions as a shield against the ancient curse of a malevolent glare. The hook, or çengel, guards against harmful influences.

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. Eşme lies in the Uşak region of western Turkey, 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 is made using the slitweave method, a warp-sharing technique that enables the creation of reversible kilims with complex designs. The looping and sharing of strands in the weaving process results in small slits appearing at the borders of the designs, giving the process its name.

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