Thinking back to my childhood, I will always remember those long hours waiting for my mum to choose her perfect kilim in Istanbul’s souk markets. At the time, I could never understand why one would spend so much time in such a dusty, hot place, rifling through piles and piles of rugs which all looked exactly the same to me. I was young and didn’t understand the allure of the kilim. Now days, I would kill to be able to go back to this experience.
In Persian, kilim means ‘spread roughly’ – which describes exactly the casual, cool interior look of this trendy rug style.
For me, there is nothing better than a strong kilim to add a splash of warm colour, bold pattern and a vintage feel to your home. The only thing I would take care to remember is to be careful with selecting other accessories for the room – such as art or décor – as the kilim brings a lot of life to a room and can easily clash with other bold or colourful items.
And when it comes to choosing the perfect kilim – trust me, don’t drag along the kids – it’ll be years before a kilim will be as exciting to them as it is to you!