CAL Vintage Kilim 278x150cm

Anatolian flat-woven kilim rug made of hand-spun sheep wool. A unique vintage piece with collector's value!

Selected by Wild Heart Free Soul according to the highest quality standards, naturally cleaned with the power of the sun, and professionally restored.

Age-related patina and natural irregularities are characteristic of our handmade vintage rugs.

• Material: 100% hand-spun sheep wool, highest quality
• Workmanship: Flat-woven by hand on a traditional, horizontal wooden loom
• Age: Semi-Antique. Approx. 1960-1970
• Condition: Vintage in like-new quality due to extensive cleaning and restoration process
• Origin: Çal, Anatolia
• Size: 278 x 150 cm, Height: 3 mm

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 involved 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 vegetable-dyed. Many pieces from the 1960s and 1970s bear in their shades the traces of a cultural transition: between old and new, craftsmanship and modernity.

Weaving was a ritualistic 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 bearers of deep messages.

They were used, loved, passed down – and some of them slumbered in chests for a long time until they eventually saw the light of day again.

Today, we clean and restore these pieces with the utmost respect: washed with olive soap, dried in the Antalya sun, repaired in our Istanbul atelier.

Some pieces are with us for only a few months, others accompany us for years – because we never rush anything. Every kilim is restored with time, care, and respect. Some await the right restorer, the summer months to bathe in the sunlight – for their silent re-transformation 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 thoughtfully, it can endure for many more generations. It doesn't require elaborate care, but rather the right kind of care.

We recommend gently vacuuming or shaking out the kilim once or twice a month to remove dust and dirt. Please do not use a rotating vacuum cleaner for this; ideally, use a brush attachment or a gentle handheld device. Too frequent, intensive vacuuming can tire out the fibers in the long run.

Every few months, it's worth turning the kilim over and vacuuming the back as well. Rotating the rug slightly once a year ensures even wear and maintains the balance in the weave.

For deep 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 fibers. If you need assistance in choosing a suitable cleaner, we are 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, you can carefully dab with a little olive soap and a slightly damp cloth – without rubbing, without soaking. For stubborn dirt, please consult a professional directly. Liquid that spreads along the fibers can become 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.