The Kilim Revival: Weaving Tradition into Modern Walls
A remarkable classic weaving technique, which produces works as practical as they are decorative, is currently experiencing a renaissance.
For centuries, kilims could be seen just as often in a peasant’s hut as in a nobleman’s manor – but popularity across the social strata is not the only surprising feature of these textiles. The duality of their nature also concerns the function they used to fulfil. Although the primary purpose of kilims was insulation – protecting tents, huts and houses from the cold – from the beginning they also played a decorative role. The woven patterns served as interior decoration. They were usually placed on walls, but could also be spread on floors or furniture, such as benches or chests.
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Kilim All, photo: instagram.com/kilim_all
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As soon as avant-garde movements began to influence art – including applied art – they also left their mark on weaving. The art of creating kilims with traditional patterns remained vibrant, but some creators began experimenting with compositional designs at the same time. It meant the range of forms one could use greatly expanded. To this day, this diversity remains vast.
Appreciating craftsmanship
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In Poland, from the mid-17th century onwards, the eastern name ‘kilim’ has been used to denote a double-sided decorative patterned fabric of native origin, handmade on a loom with a plain weave, with a woolen weft and most often a linen warp. Early on, this fabric was called ‘gunia’ or ‘derka’. The technique of its production is considered ancient and recognized as a local Slavic tradition dating back to the early Middle Ages,
writes Monika Kowalczyk, curator of The Phenomenon of the Polish Kilim, an exhibition that ran from May to September 2024 at the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź. It presented nearly 90 kilims from the museum’s collection and the private collections of Professor Piotr Korduba, an art historian, as well as a kilim enthusiast and collector. Visitors could see textiles dating back over one hundred years as well as brand new pieces.
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‘The Phenomenon of the Polish Kilim’ exhibition, Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź, photo: Anna Cymer
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Nowadays, crafts of all kinds are experiencing a renaissance. During the political transformation period of the 1990s, we indulged in consumerism and enjoyed easy access to all kinds of goods, including cheap and poor-quality products. That euphoria has now passed – today we appreciate craftsmanship and artisan works that are original, unique, and high quality. The number of customers seeking pieces by esteemed designers is growing, while city dwellers are increasingly eager to learn design, ceramics, and weaving techniques.
One kind of handicraft that has regained popularity in recent years in particular is kilims. They attract interest at fairs and design reviews, and there are newly founded studios that specialise in this craft. And among big city dwellers, it’s ‘fashionable’ to have a kilim on the wall of one’s apartment, although today, of course, it’s no longer for the purpose of insulating the abode.
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‘The Phenomenon of the Polish Kilim’ exhibition, Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź, photo: Anna Cymer
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In 2019, a group of designers, product makers, and industry insiders came together to establish Nów: Nowe Rzemiosło [New Moon: New Craftsmanship, ed.]. The goal of this association is not only to promote design but also to support creators and craftsmen on the market. In their manifesto, the initiators of Nów write:
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In the present world destroyed by thoughtless mass consumption and chase for more and more profit, craft is being reborn in its creative, new version – just like the moon coming back to its full shape. [...] Contemporary new handicraft – regardless of the specialisation – stands, first and foremost, for taking direct control over the whole production process by a single person. The handicraft product is different from the industrial product in that it is not alienated from its maker.
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Robert Wieczorek, ‘Rozdarcie’ (‘A Rip’), 2017, photo: robertwieczorekart.pl
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Among the nearly thirty craftsmen and workshops belonging to the Nów: Nowe Rzemiosło association, several work at looms every day or use other techniques whose end products are textiles.
Beata Palikot-Borowska, founder of the Białystok-based weaving studio Splotarium [from Polish ‘splot’, meaning ‘weave’, ed.], has been part of the Podlasie textile industry since the mid-1990s. Convinced that ‘weaving is relaxing and therapeutic’, she also conducts workshops where you can learn how to use a loom while calming your mind and giving your body a rest. Meanwhile, Beata Wietrzyńska, founder of the brand In Weave and creator of decorative fabrics, home textiles, and clothing elements, holds the title of master weaver. Jakub Święcicki works in a similar field – he designs textiles and computer embroidery, and in his Knot collection, he creates large-format carpets using the macramé technique, which consists in cord knotting (he says he wants to liberate the technique from its reputation as kitschy or excessively ornamental). Robert Wieczorek, who considers weaving to be in equal measure a craft and an art, employstraditional weaving techniques and uses wool from the old Dywanów Kowary carpet factory. He creates large-format woven artistic objects.
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BLUR collection, REST Studio, photo: Karolina Sałajczyk, REST Studio
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Dominika Gacka and Julia Piekarska, graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, founded the studio REST, where they weave, experiment, and search for new ideas, project paths, and effects. Using traditional weaving techniques, they reach for materials that are as natural as possible and gentle to the environment, creating fabrics with rich texture and sensuality. In one of their projects, called Restki [a play on Polish ‘resztki’, meaning ‘leftovers’, ed.], in which they seek ways to create a new durable material made solely from yarn waste and leftovers.
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‘Basen’ (‘Swimming Pool’), photo: Tartaruga Studio
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Jadzia Lenart and Wiktoria Podolec founded their designer weaving workshop Tartaruga back in 2017, when kilims were not as popular as today. Fascinated by this labour- and time-intensive technique, they began weaving both kilims and makatki (small traditional wall decorations). While designing their patterns, they try to make them modern and responsive to the changing world but also universal and timeless. They eagerly use yarn scraps and recycled cotton, employing environmentally and human-friendly plant dyes. Their kilims – cheerful, multicoloured, sometimes abstract, sometimes simple and legible – have contributed to the increased interest in the weaving technique and the rising popularity of these products as elements of contemporary interiors.
The brand Splot was established three years after Tartaruga. Its creator, Przemysław Cepak, noticed the beauty and uniqueness of the kilim in the world of mass production and decided to refresh and bring this noble craft ‘back to the salons’. Splot’s kilims are woven by experienced weavers, with patterns created by esteemed graphic designers and artists, such as Edgar Bąk and Zofia Strumiłło. However, the workshop’s portfolio isn’t limited to new and contemporary projects. Rather, they also occasionally undertake to work with patterns from the past, recreating pieces by esteemed late artists, restoring them not only to memory but also to shop shelves. Thanks to Splot, weaving workshops have revived kilims based on designs by Zofia Stryjeńska, Józef Czajkowski, and Maria Bujakowa.
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Topole, tapestry, photo: Topole.art.pl
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Kilim is a technique where tradition and modernity merge particularly well. Although it’s an ancient method, still analogue in a digital world, it can produce objects that are very modern and fit our times, tastes, and sensitivities. Living ‘in the heart of the Masurian Lakes’, the sisters Anka and Kaśka Dobrzyn, creators of the brand Topole (‘Poplars’), use only natural materials (linen, cotton, and wool, that last one exclusively from recycling) and weave kilims in various formats and of different kinds: monochromatic and colourful, abstract and figurative (often depicting landscapes), minimalist and rich in detail. Kilims bearing the Topole label can be hung on walls and laid on floors (they are densely woven and thus resistant to trampling, so they are suitable as carpets), put to functional use or treated as decorative works of art. On the other hand, the studio Bimbi Deco manufactures, among other things, woven kilim cushions, and Tola Ochnio, who works under the brand name Kilim All, specialises in small, highly textured kilims and makatki.
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Bimbi Deco, photo: instagram.com/bimbi_deco
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The process of creating a kilim requires great patience, focus, and precision. It takes a week to make one square meter of fabric. [...] There are no two identical kilims, just as no two loaves of bread are the same. Each [...] is a unique work of art,
proclaim Splot on their website. Whether treated as functional or decorative, large or small format, contemporary kilims not only offer a vast array of forms and patterns but also evoke respect for the enormous amount of work required to create them.
Originally written in Polish, July 2025, translated by Adam Zulawski, Oct 2025