Motif dictionary
Learn the language of carpets.
Every motif is a word and every pattern a sentence. Explore the symbols Anatolian weavers have used for centuries, learn what colours say, and “write” a carpet of your own.
@muska
@elibelinde
@hayatağacı
@küpe
@kurtağzı
Alphabet
Knot & colour
The smallest units of a carpet.
Word
Motif
A single symbol that carries meaning.
Sentence
Pattern
Organises motifs with rhythm and symmetry.
Text
Carpet
A whole story you can read.
Dictionary
19 words of Anatolia.
Note: meanings vary by region, tribe and weaver. Treat these as traditional readings rather than fixed rules; truly reading a carpet means reading its context too.
Colours
Colours speak too.
Traditionally drawn from plants such as madder, indigo, weld and walnut husk, colour strengthens what the motifs say.
Try it
Weave your own sentence.
Pick up to five motifs and a ground colour, and we’ll read what your carpet says.
1. Choose motifs
2. Ground colour
Turkish name: