Where do they come from?

The city of Kayseri, located 336 km from Konya in Turkey, was an important carpet trading center during the Ottoman Empire. Today, it has regained its place by becoming the main center for the marketing of carpets made in all the provinces of Central Anatolia, carpets from Cappadocia, carpets from Kirsehir, as well as those brought to the bazaar by the Yörüks and Kurds staying in the east of this region.

How are Kayseri carpets made?

In the city's factories, many carpets with the most varied, quite heterogeneous designs are woven, intended exclusively for export or tourist trade. Private workshops work on behalf of wholesalers who supply them with raw materials and the cartons for the ordered carpets. These merchants have an entire network of home weavers located in the surrounding villages, each house having its own ready-to-use loom. Here too, carpets are made according to Western orders and desired selling prices. The designs and dimensions of these carpets are decided by the importers.

What are their characteristics?

The local wool used produces a rough, flat, and fairly short pile. The designs imitate either the designs of Konya carpets, or Persian designs particularly inspired by Tabriz carpets. Kayseri has always exchanged commercial and cultural contacts with the capital of Iranian carpets. Conversely, silk carpets inspired by Kayseri models are made in Tabriz.

How do you recognize a genuine Kayseri carpet?

Some prayer rugs, entirely in silk, mixing gold threads with silk to obtain a subtle shimmer - warp, weft, and pile - are of exceptional quality: fine knotting, flat pile, delicate often floral motifs, and a rare harmony of pastel dyes, a secret of a few Armenian families from the Kayseri community, a city with a rich artistic past whose population has lived off carpet craftsmanship for centuries.

All our Kayseri carpets are unique pieces, sold with their certificate of origin.