Anatolian Kilim and Leather Coaster

Twelve centimeters across — about four and three-quarter inches — and every one of them different. Each coaster is cut from an old handwoven Anatolian kilim, in cotton and wool, and bound with a sewn leather edge.

01Reading the motif

Because the kilims come from different regions and different decades, no two coasters carry the same motif or the same colors. What you get is a fragment: part of a border, a corner of a diamond, a run of color that was once a meter of something larger.

02From the hand of the weaver

The flat kilim weave is dense enough to take a hot cup without flinching and cold glass without darkening, and the leather frame around it is stitched rather than glued, which is what stops the woven edge unraveling the first time it is dropped. A non-slip backing keeps it on the table and off the finish underneath. The kilims themselves are the interesting part. These are pieces that had reached the end of their life as floor coverings and were cut down instead of thrown out, which is what the trade has always done with a rug too worn to walk on.

03The origin of the pattern

Because the stock is salvage, the supply is not a pattern the house can reorder — when a particular kilim is used up, that set of colors is finished. Dry clean; do not put it in water, which will pull the old dyes. Cut from old handwoven Anatolian kilims in cotton and wool. Bound with a stitched leather edge, not a glued one. 12 × 12 cm, with a non-slip backing. Each is unique: no two carry the same motif or color run. Takes hot and cold without marking the table beneath it. Made from salvaged kilim, so the color range shifts as the stock changes. Dry clean only; do not wash. What is the coaster actually made from? The center is a piece of old handwoven Anatolian kilim in cotton and wool, salvaged from a rug that had finished its life on the floor.

04Knot by knot, by hand

The outer frame is leather, stitched around the woven edge to stop it fraying. Will I receive the exact one in the photograph? Not necessarily. Every coaster is cut from a different kilim, so motifs and colors vary from piece to piece. The photograph shows the type and the construction rather than the individual coaster that will be sent. It is the smallest thing here, and the only one that began life as part of something much bigger.