AFYON Vintage Kilim 344x185cm
Woven Memory from Anatolia
This handwoven vintage Kilim is a unique piece – born from the silent strength of Anatolian women who translated their world into patterns. Made from 100% hand-spun sheep's wool (partially combined with cotton or goat hair), each rug carries its own story – of protection, beauty, and connection.
Kilim Symbols & Their Meaning
The patterns and motifs in our Kilims originate from a centuries-old symbolic language deeply rooted in Anatolian culture. Common symbols include:
- Göz (Eye): Protection, clarity, warding off evil
- Su Yolu (Watercourse): Flow of life, change, renewal
- Elibelinde: Female power, fertility, sincerity
- Kurt Ağızı: Vigilance, protection from all directions
- Küpe: Love, harmonious relationships
- Bukağı: Responsibility, family cohesion
These symbols make the rug a silent bearer of meaning – palpable for all who inhabit it.
Colors & Texture
Our Kilims display a natural, warm color palette – from terracotta to sand, from indigo to pistachio green. Subtle abrash variations lend depth and vibrancy, while the flat, handwoven structure reveals a pleasant feel and archaic beauty.
Spatial Effect & Use
Whether as a central statement in the living room, a quiet island in the bedroom, or as wall art – a vintage Kilim brings more than just style: It brings atmosphere, history, and a tangible grounding to your space.
Gently Restored & Cared For
Like all items at Wild Heart Free Soul, this Kilim has been carefully cleaned – with olive soap, water, and sunlight – and, where necessary, gently restored. This preserves its soul while making it ready for new journeys.
A Kilim from Wild Heart Free Soul is more than a rug.
It is a piece of woven memory – warm, meaningful, and full of quiet strength.
A home for your feet. And for your heart.
AFYON Vintage Kilim 344x185cm
Wild Heart Free Soul
Kastanienallee 55
10119 Berlin
Germany
Choose options
- Unique vintage rug - only one in stock!
- Material: 100% high-quality, hand-spun sheep's wool
- Workmanship: Flat-woven by hand on a traditional wooden loom
- Age: Vintage / Semi-antique. Circa 1960s
- Condition: Vintage in like-new quality due to extensive cleaning and restoration process
- Origin: Afyon, Anatolia
- Dimensions: 344cm x 185cm, Height: 3mm
Anatolian kilims are far more than textile utility items – they are woven memories, personal messages, and expressions of lived culture. For generations, women from nomadic tribes and villages wove their wishes, hopes, and stories into the fabric – freely, intuitively, and full of symbolic power.
This kilim was also woven in an Anatolian home – from the wool of their own sheep, shorn, washed, carded, and hand-spun. The dyeing of the yarns often took place with natural pigments from madder, weld, walnut, or indigo – but from the 1950s onwards, synthetic dyes increasingly found their way into the villages. The world became faster, more colorful – not every kilim remained purely plant-dyed. Many pieces from the 1960s and 1970s bear in their tones the traces of a cultural transition: between old and new, craftsmanship and modernity.
Weaving was a ritual act – accompanied by songs, stories, silence. Often several women sat together at the loom: mother, grandmother, sister, neighbor. Every knot, every line, every symbol carried meaning – protection, fertility, connection, strength. Symbols like the eye (Göz), the cosmic mother (Elibelinde) or the scorpion became carriers of deep messages.
They were used, loved, passed down – and some of them slept for a long time in chests until they reappeared one day.
Today we clean and restore these pieces with the greatest respect: washed with olive soap, dried in the Antalya sun, repaired in our Istanbul studio.
Some pieces are with us for only a few months, others accompany us for years – because we don't rush anything. Every kilim is restored with time, care, and respect. Some wait for the right restorer, for the summer months to bathe in the sunlight – for their silent transformation back into a living work of art.
A kilim from Wild Heart Free Soul is not a product.
It is a legacy. A woven wish.
And perhaps a companion for your home of tomorrow.
A Kilim is a long-lasting companion – if treated with love and cared for mindfully, it can survive many more generations. It doesn't require elaborate care, but rather the right kind of care.
We recommend gently vacuuming or beating the Kilim once or twice a month to remove dust and dirt. Please do not use a rotating vacuum cleaner for this, but ideally a brush attachment or a gentle handheld device. Too frequent, intense vacuuming can cause the fibres to wear out over time.
Every few months, it's worth turning the Kilim over and vacuuming the back as well. If you lightly rotate the rug once a year, you ensure even wear and maintain the balance in the weave.
For basic cleaning, we recommend professional hand washing every 3 to 5 years – with pH-neutral shampoo or olive soap, gently worked in by hand and thoroughly rinsed. Please never put your Kilim in dry cleaning or steam cleaning – this would damage the fibres. If you need assistance in choosing a suitable cleaner, we will be happy to advise you. We work with experienced oriental rug specialists and are happy to pass on our special conditions.
And if an accident does happen: Dab fresh stains immediately with a clean, dry cloth. If necessary, gently dab with a little olive soap and a slightly damp cloth – without rubbing, without soaking. For stubborn dirt, please consult a specialist directly. Liquid that spreads along the fibres can be permanently trapped, especially in flat weaves.
Dried food residues can usually be carefully scraped off or brushed out – ideally with a steady hand and without haste.