turkish patterns

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TURKISH PATTERNS

The Eugeniusz GeppertAcademy of Art and Design in WrocławFaculty of Graphic Arts and Media ArtGraphic Design Department2014 | Poland, Wrocław

SUBJECT // Graphic Design

LEDING //Professor Ludwik : ŻelaźniewiczAssistant Professor: Magda WosikAssistant: Damian Langosz Advisor: Ewa Halawa

2014 | Poland, Wrocław

INTRO

About Symbol and Motif Carpet and KilimHistoryLanguage of MotifsReading carpet and kilim

CHAPTER | 1 AGAINST THE DEVIL

Göz / Eye Muska / Amulet Çengel / Hook Haç / Cross

CHAPTER | 2 NATURE

Pıtrak / Burdock Su yolu / Running water Yıldız / Star

CHAPTER | 3 ANIMALS

Koç boynuzu / Ram’s horn Kurt izi / Wolf’s print Akrep / Scorpion Yılan / Snake Ejder / Dragon Reference

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TURKISH PATTERNS BOOK PROJECT The aim of this project is to create a small dictio-nary about Turkish motifs. In this humble glossary I tried to explain their meaning. In a culture where women are often restricted to their houses, car-pets and kilims become a place to express their feelings and dreams. Every motif, handed down over generations, is carefully woven into the car-pets. Part of the joy of looking at carpets is decod-ing the heart full messages woven into them. I come from a nomadic family living for gen-erations on Toros Mountains at Mediterranean seaside. Weaving kilims oand bags was the most artistic experience for me. As a child I used to at-tentively watch my grandmother while she was working on kilim. This kind of task requires an im-mense effort and craftsmanship. I was inspired by the motifs depicted on kilims and carpets- both by their their appealing design and by the stories they represented. The influence of kilim motifs shines through my approach to graphic design, not only in the aeshetics of my art, but also in my drive and dedication to my work. For the topic of my gradu-ation project I decided to redesign old motifs and give them a spark of a new, modern flare. For the most part I was interested in the geometrical as-pect of symbols in Turkish culture and, inspired by their consistency and mathematical perfection, I made a new set of designs based on the motifs from kilim carpets. This book is prepared to acquaint Turkish motifs. It is a common misconception that Turkish carpets and kilims are just made of vague abstract forms but in reality it could not be farther from the truth. I will try to demonstrate that Turkish motifs are not merely abstract forms on textile products or carpets and kilims. At first glance they might look like orientalist or geometric forms on the carpets and kilims but they include a vast amount of in-formation and fantastic stories about the weaver by using symbols from Turkish tales, legends and mythologies.

In a culture where women are often restricted to their houses, carpets become a place to express their feelings and dreams. Every motif, handed down over generations, is carefully woven into the carpets. Part of the joy of looking at carpets is decoding the heartful mes-sages woven into them.

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InTRO

SYMBOL A symbol can be a word, an image, an action, a gesture, or things like that and describes some-thing supernatural , which has initially no direct connection to the given image . Symbol is a word, phrase, image, or the like hav-ing a complex of associated meanings and per-ceived as having inherent value separable from that which is symbolized, as being part of that which is symbolized, and as performing its nor-mal function of standing for or representing that which is symbolized: usually conceived as deriving its meaning chiefly from the structure in which it appears, and generally distinguished from a sign. For example, a heart stands for love although, a red heart has nothing to do neither with love nor the anatomical appearance of the heart, but for everyone in our culture its clear, that when he e.g. sees a red heart on Valentine’s day the meaning is love. The “sun cross” or “solar wheel” is often con-sidered to represent the four seasons and the tropical year, and therefore the sun (though as an astronomical symbol it means “earth”). The swas-tika can be derived from the sun cross, and is an-other solar symbol in some contexts. A bit more abstract example is the sun symbol and swastika. The swastika has taken on perhaps the most diverse meanings of any symbol. In Eu-rope and the West it is a disturbing reminder of Adolph Hitler and the Nazis regime. The swasti-ka, as a Nazi symbol, is banned in Germany but a proposal to extend the ban across the European Union in 2005 failed. Microsoft has banned it from all games. However in other cultures, including ancient Asia, Native American and modern India, a version of the swastika signifies good luck and harmony. Basically it is just a geometrical figure which just consists of six strokes, for a lot of cultures it sym-bolize something much Basically it is just a geo-metrical figure which just consists of six strokes, for a lot of cultures it symbolize something much higher, in the past it stranded mainly for the divine. In contrast of symbol a sign stands for something concrete, for example, it is a noun which describes a concrete item. The word “tree” describes a tree. The word lamp describes a subject which donates light. It is quite concrete and it also doesn’t allow much room for other interpretations.

MOTIF Motif is an element of a pattern, image or part of one, or theme. A motif may be repeated in a design or composition, often many times, or may just occur once in a work. A motif may be an ele-ment in the iconography of a particular subject or type of subject that is seen in other works. Small woven signs or symbols on a carpet or kilim are called motifs and the overall pattern is called the design. Motifs on carpet and kilim rugs have a symbolic language. Thus, many symbolic, iconic or indexical motifs on kilim rugs can help transfer the cultur-al data of that timve to the present day, therefore kilims are media of transferring cultural heredity as well. Carpets and kilims are loaded with profound aesthetic values. People believe that the colors and motifs used on kilims display a type of sym-bolism which serves to differentiate various social groups from others.These motifs were transported to Anatolia, through the migration process of Turkic groups, mixing as they do with the cultures in the regions they passed through and intermingled with the al-ready existing rich varieties of textiles in Anatolia to produce new variations.Migrations, marriages, friendship and kinship relations in different regions have led to flow of motifs from one region to another, causing an in-teraction, and the different colors, patterns and compositions brought in by these waves have occasionally increased diversity, while the motifs specific to a tribe or group were faithfully pre-served. Carpet or kilim means two things. Firstly, it is having a beautifully crafted piece of art, with har-monious colors and exciting patterns, with which to decorate one’s home. Secondly, it is like taking a page out of an Anatolian native’s life. Carpets and kilims since their beginning were not created just for meeting man’s physical needs but also for his psychological wishes. Religious beliefs and ritual life enrich and develops philo-sophical thoughts and the soul of man. This influ-ences both the artist and his work in various ways. Just looking at the motifs and compositions in the carpets and kilims makes this evident. Carpets and kilims are loaded with profound aesthetic values. These motifs were transported to Anatolia, through the migration process of Tur-kic groups, mixing as they do with the cultures in the regions they passed through and intermingled with the already existing rich varieties

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CARPET & KILIM Carpet or kilim means two things. Firstly, it is having a beautifully crafted piece of art, with har-monious colors and exciting patterns, with which to decorate one’s home. Secondly, it is like taking a page out of an Anatolian native’s life. Carpets and kilims since their beginning were not created just for meeting man’s physical needs but also for his psychological wishes. Re-ligious beliefs and ritual life enrich and develops philosophical thoughts and the soul of man. This influences both the artist and his work in various ways. Just looking at the motifs and compositions in the carpets and kilims makes this evident. Migrations, marriages, friendship and kinship relations in different regions have led to flow of motifs from one region to another, causing an in-teraction, and the different colors, patterns and compositions brought in by these waves have occasionally increased diversity, while the motifs specific to a tribe or group were faithfully pre-served. A carpet is a textile floor covering consisting of an upper layer of “pile” attached to a backing.. Turkish carpets (also known as Anatolian), wheth-er hand knotted or flat woven, are among the most well-known and established hand crafted art works in the world.The oldest records of flat woven kilims come from Çatalhöyük Neolithic pottery, circa 7000 B.C. One of the oldest settlements ever to have been dis-covered, Çatalhöyük is located south east of Konya in the middle of the Anatolian region. (3) Goat hair is stiffer than sheep’s, thus it makes tent almost waterproof. After then they often used goat hair in making of floor coverings to avoid dampness in the tent and called them “kilims”. Kilim weaving is originally a Turkish handcraft crowned by the labor of women. It is an outstand-ing handcraft with its traditional taste and motifs in different colors and lines which are now reflect-ed in modern home decoration. (4)

That kilims have symbolic language with vari-ous motifs on them including geometric symbols, figures with mythological inspiration is a way to transfer the cultural data from the time they were woven to present day. That’s why kilims can be re-garded as media of transferring cultural heredity.

HISTORY Carpet-weaving dates back ancient times and appears in the territories where nomadic Turkish tribes inhabited. The oldest known knotted carpet remaining from Turks was discovered in a tomb in the Altai Mountains. This carpet, known as Pazyr-ik carpet, is believed to have been knotted in the 4th century BC (6) This tradition continued during the times of Seljuk, feudal and Ottoman periods in centers such as Konya, Uşak and Bergama where the world’s finest carpets were knitted for many years. The symbols carved in rocks along Paleo-lithic Period were, this time, woven on the kilims. These symbols sometimes were superstitious ones woven with the aim of avoid some natural di-sasters such as flood or storm which were sent to them by Gods. Later, they put the kilims in graves. (7) Researches about kilims in the 19th century dis-covered that kilims had been used by women to express their love, fear and worries whose fathers, sons or husbands were absent for either hunt or war. Therefore, it can be inferred that kilims have their own language carrying weaver’s artistic, emotional and sensory messages (8). Since kilims own that kind of a language, it is cru-cial to decode the motifs on them in order to dis-cover the elements of Turkish folklore, society and family structure, economic and agricultural activ-ities of the past ages. Kilims are concrete expres-sions of abstract thoughts and feelings knitted in a very creative and harmonious way Sem iology, or semiotics, is a science which stud-ies signs. It is a discipline which was introduced by Ferdinand de Saussure in Europe at the begin-ning of 20th century, then followed by an American logician, Charles Saunders Pierce. According to Saussure, language is a sign system containing signifiers and signifieds (9). They convey meaning but, refer to something else. Pierce claimed that there was a relationship between the signifier and signified which could be:

1- Iconic, which means the relationship between the sign and the signifier is almost the same, so similar- it is like a photograph, or a picture;2- Indexical, which means the relationship is not arbitrary, but casual (fire/smoke);3 - Symbolic, that’s the relationship is arbitrary, depending on social learning (pigeon-peace/balance-justice) (10)

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InTRO

One day a Yürük tribal chief saw a kilim rug cast on the ground by a tent. Looking at it brought an-guish to his heart, so he called on his men to find the father of the girl who had woven that kilim rug. When the father of the girl was brought to the tent the chief asked:“You have a daughter, don’t you?”“Yes, I do” replied the father.“As I understand it,” continued the chief, “you want to marry the girl to someone she doesn’t want. She has set her heart on another.”At first the father was stunned - how could the chief know of this - but then his tongue was loos-ened:“That’s true, I’m a poor man and the man who wants to marry my daughter is rich, so I promised to give him her hand in marriage. My girl, though, lost her heart to a poor young man…but how could you know of this?”The chief pointed to the kilim rug on the ground saying:“Didn’t your daughter weave this kilim rug?”“Yes, she did” said the father, to which the chief replied:“So I knew about it from the language spoken by this kilim rug…I’ll give you a horse, a camel, go and marry the girl to the one she loves. Oh! and tell her this…she wove it well, but she should put a bit less of a green accent by the red…as it is, I was almost misled.” (11)

One can find out the expression of a hu-man being while viewing the symbols of a small rug as if it was knotted today, not centuries ago. This expression can be a deep sorrow of a mother having lost her son or the happiness of a young girl in love. It is a kind of interaction with God. A carpet or a kilim has two major roles. First; it is a colorful and hand-knitted artwork to decorate a house. Second; it is a fundamental part of the Ana-tolian tradition carrying marks from the history to today. (12)

LANGUAGE OF MOTIFS

As deciphering the symbols of a small prayer rug one can discover, for example, the unbearable agony of losing a child; the grief,or happiness is as real and as fresh as when the weaver knotted the patterns of her sorrow over four hundred years ago and one becomes intenesly aware of the hu-man expression on the carpet or kilim. The car-pet becomes a kind of supreme communication reaching out to God. Owning a carpet or kilim means two things; first having a beautifully crafted piece of art with har-monious colours and exciting patterns with which to decorate the house. Second, it is like taking a page out of an Anatolian native’s life, a page out of a history of a rich, though sadly vanishing tra-dition.

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CARPETS KILIMS AND MOTIFS Kilim is a flat woven kind of floor covering whose history dates back as early as 4th century BC. It is a traditional Turkish handicraft involving messages related to their cultural activities, religious beliefs, and structure of the society of their era. Kilims were generally woven by women and young girls since the men went for a hunt or a war most of the time. Women put their inner thoughts and feelings, wishes, grief, rage or fear into the motifs to de-sign the shapes on kilim (18). By viewing kilims, it can be inferred that they have a “supra-language” expressing the weaver’s inner world and gives us clues about her situation; for instance, married or single, happy or sad, expecting a baby, hopeless for the future etc. (19). Weaving a kilim, for a woman, is a way to reflect her state of mind to outer world by using colorful ropes and various shapes. It means to speak in a silent way. Apart from the regional and local ones, the most common motifs seen in kilims can be categorized into four titles:

CHAPTER | 1 AGAINST THE DEVILGöz / EyeMuska / AmuletNazarlik / Devil eyeÇengel / HookHaç / Cross

CHAPTER | 2 NATUREPıtrak / BurdockEli belinde / Hands on hipsSu yolu / Running waterHayat ağacı / Tree of life

CHAPTER | 3 ANIMALSKoç boynuzu / Ram’s hornYılan / SnakeEjder / DragonAkrep / ScorpionKurt izi / Wolf’s print

READING CARPET AND KILIM In order to appreciate a kilim, one should ex-amine the motifs on it separately and then, the composition that these motifs fashion. Appreciat-ing a kilim requires a solid grasp of these motifs respectively which are interconnected at the same time. The composition of kilims vary from one re-gion to another but a weaver will always be able to decipher their message by “reading” them. (14) So, what does it mean to read a kilim or a car-pet’s language? It means to reveal a kilim’s un-written sentences and their meaning; moreover, the cultural, social, religious status, living stan-dards of the age at the same time. While examin-ing a kilim, one can find out about a secret hint or a spiritual importance. If one can internalize and acquire the symbolic language of kilims, it is pos-sible to interpret the image of the symbols as a whole and overall design which basically inspired from the mythology, ancient beliefs and cultures.(15. Symbolic language of kilims show that every knitter has their individual style with their own kinds of expressions of their internal worlds but there is a common language shared by all knitters at the same time (16). French author André Mal-raux called it “boundless universality of form” (17).

CHAPTER 1.

Motifs Symbolizing Beliefs. Most of the religious motifs are against evil things that they fail to pro-tect themselves, their family and lives. Noman-dic people were beliving that devil is everywhere cause of this they were using symbol against the devil.

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It is believed that some people possess some power in their glance which causes harm, injury, misfortune and even death. Therefore it signifies a bad look from the eye and its most simplified form, a triangle, is used. Evil eyes are various objects believed to have a magical and religious power to protect the possessor from dangerous external factors and reduce the effect of evil glance. It is iconic and stayed the same through the centuries. The source of an evil glance is the human eye. It is believed that the harms it may cause can best be prevented again by a human eye. A diamond di-vided into four is quite a common representation of the eye as used on weaves. Atriangle is a stylized form of the eye. Some eye motifs are formed of squares and rectangles. So this motif is symbolic.

Göz / Eye Redesign

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Göz / Eye Redesign

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Göz / Eye Redesign

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It is believed that some people possess some power in their glance which causes harm, injury, misfortune and even death. Therefore it signifies a bad look from the eye and its most simplified form, a triangle, is used. Evil eyes are various objects believed to have a magical and religious power to protect the possessor from dangerous external factors and reduce the effect of evil glance. It is iconic and stayed the same through the centuries. The source of an evil glance is the human eye. It is believed that the harms it may cause can best be prevented again by a human eye. A diamond di-vided into four is quite a common representation of the eye as used on weaves. Atriangle is a stylized form of the eye. Some eye motifs are formed of squares and rectangles. So this motif is symbolic.

Muska / Amulet Redesign

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Çengel / Hook Redesign

Hooks which are abundantly used on the kilims and carpets are symbols of protection. Hook motif in the kilims is used against evil eye. They always involve the symbols representing health, happi-ness and protect them from the malice and evil eye. Anything bad approaching is caught by the hooks. It is also said to symbolize power and cour-age. There is an iconic relation between the sign and the signifier.

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Haç / Cross Redesign

Cross, which is another motif used against evil eye consists of a vertical and a horizontal line. In Anatolian culture, the cross is believed to reduce the power of the evil glance by dividing it into four pieces. Although cross is mostly associated with Christianity, the cross motif dates back far before Christianity. Cross which is derivation of the tree of Paradise was depicted in Y shaped tree during the medieval times. It is iconic in shape but sym-bolic in content. It has both senses in one content. The one associates with the Nazist symbol and the Christian icon at the same time. In addition, it sig-nifies protection from evil eye, which is symbolic.

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CHAPTER 2.

It is believed that some people possess some power in nature. They are following the nature to inspired from it. People were beliving that plants and animals has some special powers. When they discover it they started to use them.

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Pıtrak / Burdock Redesign

Burdock is a kind of plant which sticks to the clothes of people and the hair of animal which is believed to have the ability to get rid of the evil eye. Other variation of burdock means full of flowers, especially on flour bags as a symbol of abundance. It is iconical in the beginning but later changes into a symbolic shape. It is ico-symbolic

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Su Yolu / Running Water Redesign

Water has been used as a symbol of rebirth, physical and spiritual renewal, and persistence of life, fertility, nobility, wisdom, virtue and purity. It is the most effective symbol of purgation.It is the source of both life and death. In Anatolian culture, water is the life itself. Since it has a great importance for mankind, the theme of running water is widely used on works of art. It denotes life itself. Anatolian women who lived within the water transferred its motifs to kilims they wove. It has a curving shape like a river. The shape makes you associate a river course, so it is indexical. It stays almost the same in the course of time. It is indexical.

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Yıldız / Star Redesign

Stars were honorable among the cosmic gods for the Turks of Central Asia. The Turks believed that the movements of stars affected destiny of the people and empires. They also believed that the earth had 7 layers and with seven stars at each layer. These stars influenced the daily matters of the world. The star symbolised the happiness and immortality of the soul. Seeing a star during a dream was considered as the sign of happiness. The six pointed star is known as the “Solomon’s Seal”. However; it has been used in Anatolian folk-lore long before the time of Solomon. Therefore it can be inferred that the six pointed star means more than Solomon’s Seal for Anatolian culture. The star motif on an Anatolian weaving general-ly means happiness. It is symbolic because there is no logical connection between the sign and the signifier. It requires social convention.

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CHAPTER 3.

Animals have been crucial in human life since the beginning of mankind. Humans have both hunted them and struggled with them to be pro-tected from wild ones. People also believed that they could have the power of the animals by weav-ing of parts of animals into the kilims. Therefore, animal figures can commonly be encountered in the Turkish kilims and carpets.

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Koç Boynuzu / Ram’s Horn Redesign

A horn symbol has always been identified with man who is the symbol of power. Denoting fertil-ity, heroism, masculinity and power, ram’s horn is used after or with hands on hips figure in the Anatolian culture. Ram’s horn motif is transferred into kilims by designing a ram’s view from front, in profile and top in the shapes of spiral and new moon. As it is clear, ram’s horn motif develops from iconic shape into the symbolic one, so it is ico- symbolic.

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Kurt İzi / Wolf’s Print Redesign

According to Hittites, wolf is the fellow of Gods. In Anatolian cultures, wolf motif is used for pro-tection. Wolf is the symbol of optimism and pro-tection as well as light and sun since it has the ability to see in the dark. People use this motif as a means of protection against wolves. Because nomadic people lived on cattle breeding and the primary threat is the attack of wolves. It expresses solidarity. In kilims, wolf’s print, wolf’s track and monster’s feet are usually seen in the borders. It is indexical, but variations are symbolic, because they have no relationship between.

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Akrep / Scorpion Redesign

It is a symbol which people should protect them-selves from. This motif symbolizes the spirit of devil. Scorpion, which waits to kill in every mo-ment, is the symbol of bad intention and fight.Due to its fatal venom at the end of its tail, people protect themselves against this animal anduse its sign to protect themselves against other evil things. All scorpion signs seem indexical, not iconic.

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Yılan / Snake Redesign

Humans have been involved with serpents through the ancient times. Starting from the story of a serpent offering Eve the forbidden fruit, many stories include the theme of snake. Pagans be-lieved that snake symbolized wisdom and super-natural knowledge. They accepted that serpent knew all the secrets of the nature and the plants which had healing power. For this reason, the ser-pents became a universal symbol for God of Med-icine. On the other hand, black snake is the sym-bol of happiness and fertility. Like other cultures, Turkish culture also comprises lots of stories regarding snake. However; in Muslim tradition, snake has not always symbolized positive things. Serpent design in kilims was sometimes used as protective symbol from the real serpent, evil eye and grudge. It has an iconic relationship because the form and the concept it refers to is similar with a crawling snake.

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Ejder / Dragon Redesign

Dragon is a mythological animal with big wings, lion paw and a tail resembling a serpent. It is believed to be the guard of treasures and secret objects as well as the tree of life. Dragon is the ruler of air and water. The fight between dragon and phoenix brings fertile rain. In Anatolian folk-lore, dragon is pictured as cloud. Seljuk Turks described dragon motifs as eternal life, eternity and happiness in the fountains and caravansaries. Dragon motifs are also symbolic.

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REFARANS 1- ) ‘Symbols and Cultural Perceptions’, www.designhistory.org, 2011, USA2- ) ‘Ancient civilization and excavation’ catalhoyuk.com, retrieved 2012. USA3- ) ‘Anatolian handcrafts, Kilim bag’ ,2008,TR4 ‘Halit T. ‘’ Halı üzerine’, Türk Edebiyat Dergisi, October 1984, TR5 Mehmet Ateş ‘Türk halıları’, Page-8, 1994, TR6 Mehmet Ateş, ‘Mitolojiler , Semboller ve Halı motifleri’, Page -27, 1996, TR7 Mehmet Ateş, ‘Mitolojiler , Semboller ve Halı motifleri’, Page -54-55, 1996, TR8 Özcan Bafıkan, ‘Lenguistik Metodu’ Page-62, Çağlayan Kitabevi , 1967, İstanbul, TR9 Mehmet Ateş ‘Mitolojiler , Semboller ve Halı motifleri’, 1996, İstanbul, TR10 Dr. Mehmet Onder, ‘Anadolu’da Kilimler de Konusur’, Mehmet Önder in issue No. 11 of the magazine ‘Kul-tur ve Sanat’ , Turkiye Is Bankasi, Sept. 1999, Ankara, TR11 Jacques Anquetil, ‘Carpets’, Page-12, 1994, Hochette Singapore, EN12 Jacques Anquetil, ‘Carpets’, Page-5, 1994, Hochette Singapore, EN13 Jacques Anquetil, ‘Carpets’, Page-5, 1994, Hochette Singapore, EN14 Mehmet Ateş, ‘’Mitolojiler , Semboller ve Halı motifleri’’ Page -44-45, 1996, TR15 Jacques Anquetil, ‘’ Carpets’’, Page-5, 1994, Hochette Singapore, EN16 Jacques Anquetil, ‘Carpets’, Page-35, 1994, Hochette Singapore, EN17 Balpınar, B.-Acar. ‘Türk Düz Dokuma Yaygılar’, Page-12, 198218 Jacques Anquetil, ‘Carpets’, Page-4, 1994, Hochette Singapore , EN19 ‘www.felsefeekibi.com/dergi/s3_y1.html - 292k’, TR20 ‘www.turkishembassy.org.index’, TR

Copyrigh © 2014 Turkish Patterns | www.turkishpatterns.com

In a culture where women are often restricted to their houses, carpets become a place to express their feelings and dreams. Every motif, handed d own over generations, i s carefully woven into the carpets. Part of the joy of looking a t carpets is decoding the heartful mes-sages woven into them. The aim of this project is to create a small dictionary about Turkish motifs.

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