Rugs of Numi · Pattern Library
These patterns were not learned from books. They were passed down — mother to daughter, hand to hand, generation to generation. Select a motif to read its story.
One of the oldest and most debated symbols in Anatolian weaving. The figure stands frontally, symmetrically, hands resting on hips — almost always female. Weavers associated it with childbirth and fertility. Whether it represents a goddess, a woman, or simply the act of weaving itself has never been fully resolved. That ambiguity is part of its power.
Sources: Kilim – The Complete Guide (Davies); The Tribal Eye (Petsopoulos)
The word means flower or rose in Turkish, but in kilim tradition it refers to something closer to a heraldic symbol — a geometric medallion that identified the tribe of the weaver. Each tribe had its own gül. Passed down from mother to daughter, it was a mark of belonging as much as a decorative choice.
Sources: Kilim – The Complete Guide (Davies); Woven with Love (Hasson)
The eight-pointed star, also known as the Star of Solomon, is one of the most widespread symbols in Anatolian weaving. It carries meanings of protection, divine light, and guidance. Found in borders, field fillers, and as central motifs, it was never purely decorative.
Sources: Kilim – The Complete Guide (Davies); Woven with Love (Hasson)
The hook motif appears throughout Anatolian kilims, often curling inward from the edges of medallions or borders. It was believed to ward off the evil eye and protect the household. Scholars note that the line between çengel and elibelinde is often blurred — the hooks may be stylized arms, or the arms may have become hooks over centuries of abstraction.
Sources: Kilim – The Complete Guide (Davies); Woven with Love (Hasson)
Curved, mirrored forms appearing in borders and medallion edges. They stand for virility, strength, and power — qualities a weaver might wish upon the household she was creating for. One of the most immediately recognizable motifs in the Anatolian lexicon, found across centuries and regions. (At the centre of this composition, an elibelinde figure can also be found.)
Sources: Kilim – The Complete Guide (Davies); The Tribal Eye (Petsopoulos)
Repeating diamond forms in endless vertical sequences — one of the oldest structural principles in Anatolian kilim weaving. The diamond is both a compositional tool and a symbolic one, representing water, fertility, and the cosmos. Its simplicity is deceptive; no two weavers render it the same way.
Sources: Kilim – The Complete Guide (Davies); Woven with Love (Hasson)
Diamond forms rising in vertical columns with finger-like projections extending outward — a structural principle associated with the indigenous weaving tradition of western Anatolia. The parmak (fingers) transform a simple geometric form into something alive and directional.
Sources: Kilim – The Complete Guide (Davies)
An ancient motif linked to the Central Asian shamanic tradition of the white goose — ak kaz. The body curves like an S, wings spread wide. In Anatolian kilims it appears as a paired or stacked form, ceremonial and alive. Folk weavers called it çömçalı (ladle), though scholars believe the bird interpretation is older and truer.
Sources: Kilim – The Complete Guide (Davies); Woven with Love (Hasson)
The direct predecessor of the Nazar amulet. Woven into kilims as an active protective charm against the evil eye — not a symbol of it, but a defence against it. Kilims bearing eye motifs were placed over entrances and above beds, the most vulnerable thresholds of daily life.
Sources: Kilim – The Complete Guide (Davies); Woven with Love (Hasson)
One of the most ancient motifs in Anatolian weaving — the twin S-forms appearing in mirrored opposition. Scholars connect it to cosmic balance and duality: the equilibrium between opposing forces, day and night, life and death, masculine and feminine. A shape so ancient its original meaning has largely dissolved into instinct.
Sources: Woven with Love (Hasson); The Tribal Eye (Petsopoulos)
Primary sources: Davies, Peter. Kilim – The Complete Guide. · Hasson, Rachel. Woven with Love. · Petsopoulos, Yanni. The Tribal Eye.
All interpretations are drawn from scholarly sources and presented as readings, not fixed definitions.
