Oriental Rug & Kilim Symbols & Motifs

If you sit and look at your handmade rug or kilim you will see many symbols woven in all sorts of shapes and sizes, some figurative and some that you really cannot work out what they are meant to be!  

These symbols have been handed down over hundreds of years and we have put together a reference of many of these rug motifs (See our Information Page) so you can take a look and work out what some of the stories are behind your Turkish, Persian or Afghan rug.  

For example, HAYAT AĞACI - Tree of Life is a theme which stands for the wish of immortality or the hope for life after death.  Stylisation of various plants, such as cypress, date, palm, pomegranate, fig, olive, wine, beech and oak, are used to symbolise the tree of life.  We have put together a whole list of these symbols - To find out more look here.

HAYAT AĞACI - Tree of Life