Burgundy Balıkesir Handwoven Wool Cicim Kilim

Wool, and only wool, spun and woven in a Balıkesir village: a handwoven cicim kilim, 158 × 234 cm (5'2" × 7'8"), burgundy-red, with Anatolian motifs raised above the ground in an added yarn. A cicim is not embroidered, though it looks it — the extra threads go in at the loom, not afterwards with a needle. Burgundy is what red becomes when it is worked in wool and left alone.

01Reading the motif

It behaves differently at either end of the day: under an evening lamp it warms toward brick, and in flat north light it darkens almost to brown, and the motif rows above it swap places with the ground depending on which of those is happening.

02From the hand of the weaver

The Turkish description calls the piece köy dokuma, village weaving, which is a statement about who made it rather than about quality. Handwoven in a village in Balıkesir province, in wool throughout. Village weaving means the piece was made at home on a domestic loom rather than in a workshop under a foreman, and the difference usually shows in the drawing: motifs sized by eye, rows drifting a little, the two ends not identical.

That drift is the identifying mark, not a defect to be discounted for. Professional cleaning, and no home washing. Handwoven in a Balıkesir village, in wool throughout. Cicim: supplementary pattern yarn laid over a plain flat ground at the loom. Burgundy-red ground carrying Anatolian motifs. Domestic loom rather than workshop, so motifs are sized by eye. 158 × 234 cm (5'2" × 7'8") — a sofa front, a study, or a wide hall. Burgundy warms toward brick under lamplight and darkens in north light. Professional cleaning; nothing at home. One of one. Red wool is the last color to look tired in a room, which is why village weavers kept coming back to it.