A 1984 Porsche 911 and an Anatolian kilim. On the decision to bring a historic fabric into a new context.
The Porsche arrived at our workshop on a tow truck. It was a 1984 911 G-model, originally imported from California. Its ruby red paint had been faded by the sun in places, the interior was dark brown. The leaking roof had left its mark on the cabin; part of the upholstery needed to be renewed. This marked the beginning of a restoration that soon shifted to a question of material.
I wanted to integrate an Anatolian kilim into the interior. For me, this project connects two places that have shaped my work and my heritage. I grew up in the Stuttgart region as the daughter of Turkish immigrants. Porsche was omnipresent there, but owning a 911 of one's own was long hard to imagine. Today, I work with hand-woven textiles from Anatolia. In this car, these two parts of my history come together.
A fabric for the interior
A kilim behaves differently than conventional upholstery fabric. It has weight and structure; its pattern was woven for a flat surface, not designed for the curves of a seat. For the workmanship, we needed someone who understood both: the fabric and the requirements of a car interior.
Many saddlers we approached turned down the project. Finally, a workshop in Berlin took on the task. Before cutting, the flow of the pattern, the material thickness, and the areas subject to high wear had to be taken into account.
Why a kilim from Mut
Initially, we had selected a runner from Kars, dated 1961. The size and colors matched the car; the piece was already laid out for cutting planning. Nevertheless, I decided to keep looking. The kilim needed to fit this project in terms of material, color palette, and origin.
The choice fell on a roughly 90-year-old kilim from Mut, a region on the southern edge of the Taurus Mountains near the Sertavul Pass. My father's family comes from neighboring Karaman. This geographical proximity gave the piece a personal meaning for me.
The kilim is woven from sheep's wool and goat hair. Its faded red, apricot, and brown tones sit alongside the aged paint and dark leather of the Porsche. The Elibelinde motif appears in the pattern. The irregular color gradients and the traces of time are part of its character; they were to remain visible even after the processing.
Cutting into an antique fabric is a far-reaching decision. Its original form cannot be restored afterwards. That is precisely why it was important to choose the kilim deliberately and to carefully plan the flow of its pattern before cutting. The project is named Rug Smuggler.
In the workshop
The dismantling began with the front and back seats, the dashboard, and the door panels. Leather and kilim meet there at edges, seams, and curves. Each surface poses different demands on cutting and workmanship.
During the final tasks, the choice of material for the footwell also remained open. A simple goat hair fabric would be an option. Its material is reminiscent of the black goat hair tents of Anatolia and would establish a connection to the kilim from Mut.
The 911 and the kilim both bear visible traces of their age. Their connection emerged from working with a specific piece, its texture, and the decisions that its processing demands. In the workshop, a shared history begins for them.
