Decor_OcakSubat_2019

A kind of “Kilim”
“I’ve woven a kilim but not like the rugs you know.
With my own method and handcraft I made this.”
In the summer of 2016, Pınar Akkurt
went to an olive factory in Aydın Organized
Industrial Zone to work with
waste materials, and there were plenty
of production wastes, she started to
work with jar lids and olive cans. Akkurt
told that she tried other kinds of experiments,
such as flowers made from
cans, a throne made from plastic boxes
and scraps, until the first sketch of the
idea of ‘Kilim’ was born.
Pınar Akkurt describes the formation
of the prototype as follows: “This is a
pattern in pixel logic that I made by aligning
the jar covers flat and upside down.
I think it would be better to stand on
the ground or to be fixed on a surface
rather than being hung, and it could be
seen on both sides. I made the first prototype
by punching the edges with six
equal spacing. The method was okay,
but how to puncture? I made a template
for the holes. Then I wanted to mark it
with a pencil and pierce it. It wouldn’t
be comfortable to make holes with a
drill. It’s easier to pierce with a hammer
and nail. But the fingers may be wound.
I asked the people around me. There
were even some suggestions, even a
six-drill mechanism. But the application
of a simple method should be as simple
and economical.
Then she told about how she solved the
drilling problem with is own method
without using a drilling tool she developed
for this work and made it more
practically.
Later she remembered the motifs of
Anatolian kilims, those are isometric,
abstract and geometric. She worked
on several drafts after thinking over
several samples of them, including the
motifs called pitrak, hands on the belly,
waterway, ram’s horn and life tree. Then
she decided to weave her own motif and
designed a pattern made of basic motifs
of Anatolian kilims.
Under the sponsorship of Candas Sisman
the metal scraper, Pinar Akkurt
started to paint the jar lids and to tell
her story, “After method, the materials
time came for the application. I first
needed a large table to work on and a
GoPro camera to document the whole
process. I borrowed both from my friends
Cagla and Turgul who provided also
a spacious room in Tuzambari. I made
a number of tests with materials and
colors. A month after, a large kilim was
emerged, having different patterns on
both sides. It can be hanged on the wall
or be used as a separation element.
I have woven a kind of kilim, made by
my own technique, with a tool I made
myself.”
17 DECOR • January - February 2019