Kilim

Before we begin to address the subject of kilim nomenclature there is one point to be clarified, mainly for those first entering the realm of the kilim. Although at times you may find kilim rugs included in the general genre of "oriental rugs", in more accepted practice kilim rugs are in a class of their own, and it is then generally understood that the term "oriental rug" refers to pile rugs, a category which includes carpets.


The difference between a kilim area rug and a carpet or a pile rug is that whereas the design visible on the kilim is made by interweaving the variously colored wefts and warps, thus creating what is known as a flatweave, in a pile rug individual short strands of different color, usually of wool, are knotted onto the warps and held together by pressing the wefts tightly against each other. In this case the whole design is made by these separately knotted strands which form the pile, and the patterns become clearly visible after any excessive lengths of the knotted materials are shorn off to create a level surface.

Having thus differentiated between a kilim rug (pileless) and a carpet (with pile) you might think that's all there's to it. Well, not quite.
All of you - all of us - interested in the subject have wandered the cyber byways and noticed that the seemingly simple matter of finding the proper definition of a kilim rug can lead to confusion. Let's take a look at 'kilim' entries in two online sources generally taken for granted as reliable, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Encyclopedia Britannica.