Turkey Capet Culture

Turkey rug-making tradition goes back to as many centuries as it is in Persia. With the carpet weaving art quite an ancient craft, its the Turkish women who play a pivotal role in the creation of beautiful rugs & carpets. Historically, the Turks are considered to be the most earliest carpet weavers with ample proofs such as the earliest known carpet with a double knotted weaving style, known as the Gordes style, has been found which dates back to the 4th & 1st centuries BC. Historians are even of the view that it was the Seljuks who introduced in the 12th century the carpet weaving techniques into Anatolia.


As per Marco Polo notes, Konya, the Seljuk capital, was the carpet production center in the 13th century & that carpets, kilims, rugs were woven without a knotted pile. These were used by the nomadic tribes as floor coverings since that provide comfort & warmth apart from enhancing the decor.

The tribe's women folk would indulge in carpet weaving art meant for family use & which would even serve as dowry items, thus, throwing ample light on the expertise of the unmarried female lot. To maintain the tradition alive, she would take great care in wool dyeing & hand-spinning along with design & motifs selection which were generally inspired from her daily life & tribal culture. Geometric motifs, frequently of a prayer niche design were prominently used & at times calligraphy motifs. Often coarse in nature, they would exhibit vibrant shades as red, blue & green, their sacred color, used on prayer rugs. The Turkish rugs were known by many names such as :

• Koula
• Ladik
• Bergoma
• Milas
• Ghiordes

Carpet & Culture
The Turkish carpets never lost their charm ever since their demand since the 19th century which actually helped in proliferating the carpet companies. With an approximately 95% of women employers, the fairer sex has the most prominent role to play in the enhancement of the carpet culture who spends most of the day's time in defining each & rug & carpet. The weaving business is smoothly executed with other domestic chores.

Paid on the basis of her completion of any carpet or kilim assignment, there are many other criteria which determines her amount such as the intricacy of the design, material quality & the number of knots per square centimeter. It is interesting to note that men only help in the repairing of the carpets & indulge in executing the dyeing & hand spinning of fibers since they are not accepted in the Turkish culture. But still the women folk remains an anonymous creator of these extraordinary carpets. Carpet weaving holds an integral part of the vast Turkish cultural tradition than simply being an art.