Tavas abundance kilim rug - extra large

A kaleidoscope of colour, this stunning kilim rug would make a bright and beautiful addition to your interior. Woven by hand in Tavas, in the southwest of Turkey, the wool rug has been embellished with motifs woven in cotton, which holds its bright colour for much longer than wool.

A carrier of visual narrative and collective memory, each rug features symbolic patterns, their powerful meanings woven into the fabric of the piece. Stylised female forms with their hands on their hips, or elibelinde, represent fertility and abundance. The ram’s horn, or koçboynuzu, symbolises strength and courage.

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. Tavas kilims are known for their repetitive or striped patterns with bright, varied colour palettes. Tavas lies in the environs of Denizli, in the high country of western Turkey; kilims in this region are woven by Turkmen Yoruk tribes, the descendants of the Turkic tribes that settled in Anatolia hundreds of years ago.

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.