Black Plain Handwoven Wool Siirt Kilim

The fiber is the whole story here. Tiftik is mohair, the fleece of the Angora goat, and Siirt in southeastern Türkiye has woven it for generations into a long-napped black cloth that is more blanket than rug.

01At the loom in in Türkiye

This is one, pre-owned, handwoven, 133 × 185 cm (4'4" × 6'1"), with no pattern on it whatsoever. Mohair does not behave like sheep's wool. The fiber is smoother, stronger and considerably more reflective, so a black woven from it is never a dead black — it carries a faint sheen that shifts as the nap moves, and in low light the surface looks closer to charcoal than to ink. The nap on a Siirt weaving is left long and unclipped, which is what gives it the animal quality that people either want immediately or not at all. Handwoven in Türkiye.

02How it is protected

The house is straightforward about its history: this piece is second-hand, and it comes with the softness of something that has already been used and washed. Two things to know before buying.

03Color that shifts through the day

A long dark nap shows every pale hair, thread and crumb that lands on it, so it is a poor choice for a household with a light-colored cat. And the high proportion of animal fiber means we would not recommend it to anyone with a known sensitivity to that kind of dust.

04Coming off the loom

Cleaning is a professional matter. Handwoven in Siirt, southeastern Türkiye, from wool and tiftik — mohair. Long, unclipped nap; flat-woven with no knotted pile beneath it. Black, with the low sheen mohair gives rather than a flat matt black. 133 × 185 cm (4'4" × 6'1") — beside a bed, over a divan, across a chair back. Pre-owned, and already softened by use. Pale hair and lint show plainly against the dark nap. We would not put it in a house where someone reacts to animal fiber dust. Professional cleaning; a long nap is combed out rather than brushed. People put a hand on it without having decided to, which no other weaving in this catalog manages.