Coral and Green Qashqai Diamond Kilim, Hand-Woven Wool

Material: 100 percent hand-spun wool, slit-tapestry flatweave. No pile.

Care instructions

• Always use a rug pad underneath — a flatweave slips easily without one.
• Vacuum gently with the beater bar off.
• Turn the kilim over every year — it is fully reversible and wears evenly if used both sides.
• Blot spills immediately, working from the outside in.
• Have the kilim professionally cleaned when needed — never machine wash.

This is a different kind of weaving from the banded flatweaves woven alongside it. There is no soumak embroidery here at all — the whole design is slit tapestry, meaning every colour is woven directly into the cloth, and where two colours meet the weaver leaves a small vertical slit. That technique is what produces the stepped, angular outlines: a diagonal can only be built from stacked rectangles, so the great diamond medallion in the centre climbs in steps rather than curving. The palette is Qashqai in spirit, coral and cornflower and sage rather than the madder and indigo of the north, and the compartments inside the medallion are coloured almost at random, so the eye keeps finding new combinations. Both faces are finished, so it can be used either way up.