A kilim (also spelled kelim) is a flatwoven rug produced without any knotted pile. Instead of the dense, plush surface of a knotted rug, a kilim is woven by interlacing colored weft threads tightly between the warp threads. The result is a thin, durable textile with the design visible identically on both sides.
The most common kilim weaving technique is slit tapestry, in which adjacent color blocks are separated by small vertical slits where the weft threads turn back on themselves. These slits are a recognizable feature of authentic kilims and are deliberately part of the design — they are not damage.
Kilims are woven throughout the rug-producing world, including Iran (Persian kilims), Turkey (Anatolian kilims), the Caucasus (Shirvan and Karabakh kilims), Afghanistan, and the Balkans. Each region has distinct color palettes and motif vocabularies.
Compared to knotted-pile rugs, kilims are:
- Significantly lighter and easier to transport
- Generally less expensive at comparable size
- Reversible
- Less suited to extreme high-traffic areas, but excellent as accent rugs, wall hangings, or in lower-traffic rooms