Multicolor Anatolian Handwoven Wool Kozak Cicim Kilim

Kozak is a high plateau on Madra Mountain, north of Bergama in İzmir province. The name points to the pattern family of this kilim, which was handwoven in Türkiye entirely of wool. The surface is built from bands.

01The tone of the ground

In the wide ones, diamonds outlined in stepped white lines stand side by side, each with a smaller red, navy, green or orange diamond at its heart. White stars and crosses run through the narrow bands in between, and stripes of purple and green keep the bands apart.

02From ground to pile

The deep eggplant ground holds the white outlines at the front of all that activity. The diamond edges step rather than curve because the supplementary yarn in cicim advances by counting warps.

03A question of size

The little hooks along those edges are associated, among kilim motifs, with warding off the evil eye. 171 × 231 cm (5'7" × 7'7"), about 4 square meters, enough for the front of a seating group.

04What it sits well with

The bands run parallel to the short sides, so with the long side along the sofa they reach out from it at right angles. A busy surface wants a single-color sofa: dark green velvet repeats the kilim's green and quiets the rest.

05The origin of the pattern

Dragged chairs catch on raised figures, so a dining table is the wrong place for it. On parquet, a thin non-slip felt pad goes underneath. Long cream fringes hang from both short ends.