Günyolu Series

The Günyolu Series is Halıcızade's loom-woven line: a cotton foundation carrying Tencel and wool, woven on the traditional upright looms of Kütahya and Uşak and finished by hand. The palette runs gray, cream, beige, mink and terra, and the series takes its name from a mountain village in Kemaliye, in Erzincan province.

Günyolu sits between two things a buyer usually has to choose between: the surface of hand work and the dimensional consistency of a loom. This page covers how that weave is made, what the colors do beside real furniture, which fibers are used in which model, and the eighteen designs currently woven in the series.

What loom-woven means, and how it differs from hand-knotted

The kara tezgah is the traditional upright loom of Anatolia. The knots are tied by the loom; the finishing — edges, selvedge, fringe — is completed by hand. In a hand-knotted rug every knot is tied individually, one rug takes months, and the price follows the labor.

You can tell them apart by touch. On the back of a loom-woven rug the rows of knots run straighter than on a hand-knotted one. On the face the difference narrows, and the edges give it away in the other direction: because the finishing is hand work, the selvedge and fringe do not have the cut regularity of a factory rug. The same weave underlies the Zade Series and the Zima Series; the three differ in pattern, not in structure. For the technique across the whole store, see loom-woven rugs.

A gray-led palette, and why it stays out of the way

Gray dominates the series, with cream and beige behind it and mink and terra as the warm end.

Gray's job on a floor is to retreat. The furniture comes forward and the rug holds still beneath it, which is the opposite of what a strongly colored rug does. The undertone is what decides the fit: oak and walnut both carry a yellow-red undertone, so a cool gray beside them reads as deliberate contrast, while a warm gray — one with beige in it — sits down beside the same wood without argument. Against linen and bouclé upholstery a gray ground makes the weave of the fabric visible; under a dark leather sofa a pale gray defines the piece without adding weight. Mink and terra are the intermediate step for a neutral room that wants color but not a strong one.

Deliberate distressing: what it is and why it is done

Several models in the series are distressed on purpose. Copper and earth-toned marks are spread across the ground, sections of the pattern are opened out, and the rug looks aged from the first day.

The reason is as practical as it is visual. A new rug with sharp color transitions has to negotiate with every object in the room; a worn-looking ground is more forgiving and does not argue with what is set beside it. Distressing also brings forward the natural fading that would arrive anyway, so the rug looks much the same in five years as it does now. None of it is accidental — where the ground opens and where each mark falls is decided at the design stage.

Tencel or wool: which model is which

Both fibers appear in the series, and most models use them together over a cotton foundation.

Tencel is a regenerated fiber made from wood cellulose in a closed-loop solvent process, in which most of the solvent is recovered; it is a brand name, and the generic term is lyocell. In a rug it does two things. It breaks light the way silk does, so the same gray ground looks different in the morning and in the evening, and it gives a cool, fluid surface rather than the warmth of wool. Where wool is used, that reverses: matte, firm and warm underfoot.

The honest limitation is that Tencel weakens when it is wet. Spills should not be left standing and the rug should not be left damp. Which yarn is in which model is stated on the product page. Compare Tencel rugs and wool rugs.

Where the patterns come from

The designs are drawn for Halıcızade, and the sources are Anatolian.

• Pazyryk. After the oldest known knotted rug, cut from the ice of a kurgan in the Altai mountains of Siberia and dated to the fifth century BC — a grid of squares at the center, deer and mounted riders in the borders. The original is in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg.
• Mamluk. A geometric medallion structure, drawn from the Mamluk weaving tradition.
• Patchwork. Oushak, Hereke and Kayseri templates set side by side in one field.
• Kemaliye. Two designs taken from the place the series is named for — the doors of Eğin, and the Dark Canyon.
• Flower, vintage and abstract grounds for rooms where the pattern should stay quiet.

Every design in the series carries the tree of life, Halıcızade's signature figure — one of the oldest motifs in Anatolian weaving, drawn with its roots underground and its branches in the sky, and read as the continuation of a line. It marks the rug as a house design rather than grading it. Other pieces carrying the same mark are gathered under tree of life rugs.

Sizes, from a runner to a large salon

Most designs are woven in more than one size, so a pattern can usually be had in the dimension a room needs.

Size	Imperial	What it suits
90 × 150 cm	2'11" × 4'11"	An entrance, a bedside
90 × 190 to 90 × 590 cm	2'11" × 6'3" to 2'11" × 19'4"	Corridors, including runs over five meters
130 × 190 cm	4'3" × 6'3"	A small room, under a single chair
170 × 240 cm	5'7" × 7'10"	A bedroom, a compact sitting room
200 × 290 and 200 × 300 cm	6'7" × 9'6" and 6'7" × 9'10"	A standard three-and-two seating group, front legs on
240 × 340 cm	7'10" × 11'2"	An L-shaped unit, or all legs on in a large room
300 × 390 cm	9'10" × 12'10"	An open-plan room with the seating floated

The long runners are the unusual part. Ready-made corridor rugs above five meters are scarce, and the series is woven to 590 cm. In a corridor, the right length leaves 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 in) of floor at each end so the rug repeats the line of the passage instead of butting into the walls, and at least 10 cm (4 in) of floor visible along each side. See also hallway runners.

What is normal in a Günyolu rug

Because the finishing is done by hand, the edges may not run exactly parallel and one end can be a couple of centimeters wider than the other. On fringed models the tassels are not identical in length. A row of pattern may shift by a millimeter or two. All of this comes from the tension of the loom and is left uncorrected; not every piece shows it, and some weave up perfectly straight.

Tencel's sheen changes with the light, so the tone in a showroom and the tone at home will not be identical, and the ground will darken and lighten as the rug is turned. That is how the fiber breaks light, not a color fault.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Günyolu Series?

Günyolu is Halıcızade's loom-woven series, built on a cotton foundation with Tencel and wool, woven on the traditional upright looms of Kütahya and Uşak and finished by hand. Its palette runs through gray, cream, beige, mink and terra, and every design carries the tree of life.

What does loom-woven mean, and how is it different from hand-knotted?

On a loom-woven rug the loom ties the knots and the finishing is completed by hand. On a hand-knotted rug every knot is tied individually, which takes months for a single rug and is priced accordingly.

Is Günyolu made of wool or Tencel?

Most models use both over a cotton foundation. Tencel is a regenerated wood-cellulose fiber that breaks light like silk and feels cool underfoot; wool is matte, firm and warm. The product page states which yarn is used in each design.

Why are some Günyolu rugs distressed on purpose?

Because a worn-looking ground argues less with the rest of a room than a sharply new one does, and because it brings forward the fading that would arrive anyway. The distressing is designed rather than random: where the ground opens and where each mark falls is decided in advance.

What sizes does the Günyolu Series come in?

From 90 × 150 cm up to 300 × 390 cm, with runners woven in 90 cm widths at lengths from 150 cm to 590 cm. Most designs are woven in more than one size, so a pattern can usually be had in the dimension a particular room needs.

How should a Tencel rug be cleaned?

Vacuum in the direction of the pile and lift spills immediately with a dry cloth rather than rubbing them in. Tencel weakens when wet, so the rug should not be left damp, and a full wash belongs with a professional rug washer rather than at home.

Related collections: Zade Series · Zima Series · Tencel rugs · hallway runners