Modern Kilim
Through
her work as a writer and researcher and also as founder and curator of the
Vakiflar Carpet and Kilim museum in Istanbul, Belkis Balpinar is regarded
as one of the world's leading authorities on Anatolian Kilims. But she is
also an artist in her own right.
Using the ancient techniques of kilim weaving combined with her experience as a researcher, traveller and textile designer, Belkis Balpinar is pioneering a new art form - the modern kilim.
In her thirty odd years experience in the field of Anatolian kilims and carpets, Belkis Balpinar has seen the status of these beautiful traditional floor coverings raised from interesting curio to exalted art-form.
Fine examples of traditional kilims have now for many years been sought after by private collectors and museums alike with prime examples fetching tens, even hundreds of thousand of dollars.
While traditional kilim designs, swatches and whole pieces have found new popularity as trendy home-furnishings, waistcoats, bags and even shoes.
Now having retired from the world of research, she has been able to combine her deep knowledge of the structures history and age-old techniques of kilim production with her background as a textile designer.
Having studied textile design at the Fine Arts Academy of Istanbul, Belkis has deep understanding of the structure material and colour used in both modern and ancient textiles.
Her powerful, eye-catching designs imply a simplicity of purpose that is misleading. Behind it lies years of fieldwork studying everything from types and grades of wool through techniques of dying, spinning and weaving, to the traditions and backgrounds of the weavers themselves.
Her, purpose though is utterly apparent "It's the minimalist ethic. What more do I need to express myself?"
It's a style that effects a bridge between the ancient and the modern and readily encompasses both.
Having initially produced her designs with the aid of more traditional pencil and paper, she has recently embraced the limitless possibilities of the desktop computer; drawing, cutting, pasting and, through the wonders of the scanner, even adding realistic kilim weave-structure to her designs to produce lifelike mock-ups of kilims complete with the chosen weave structure before having them woven. In this way she can create individual designs to order, printing them out or sending them to clients by e-mail for approval.
Her team of weavers hail from eastern Anatolia, and are the product of the experience of uncountable generations. Belkis personally supervises their work, and where mistakes or mis-interpretations of her designs occur, often she chooses to incorporate them, regarding them as a true by-product of the weaving process.
Difficulties in defining or labelling her pieces have led to them being variously described as "mural/ wall kilims," "woven paintings" or "woven art" or "fibre art". She has chosen to push back the boundaries of what has traditionally been referred to as a kilim,with her bold, powerful designs including curved lines, sections of knotted pile or unspun angora, perhaps cut at different levels.
"Whatever you call it," she says, "It all comes down to the warp and weft, and I will go on experimenting with the possibilities."
Interest in her work has been international and she has held exhibitions in New York City; Princetown, New Jersey; Alexandria, Virginia; Stockholm, Sweden; Caracas, Venezuela; Bodrum and Istanbul. Her work has been featured in articles published in numerous publications all over the world such as: Connoisseur, Elle Decor, Interior Design, Designers West, Beautiful Home (Japan), Arts and Antiques, Washington Post - Home Section,Los Angeles Times, Homesteader, Hali, Vi and Manads Journalen, Elle Decor (Sweden), Aramco World, Sotheby;s Guide Oriental Carpets, Skylife, Turkish Daily News, Cornucopia, The Guide-Istanbul and various Turkish art and decoration magazines. Design Through Discovery by Marjorie Elliot Bevlin (Harcourt Brace, 1994), an art book for American Colleges, devotes an entire page to her work as an original designer working in a medium that she has made very much her own.
Home Steader magazine, June 1990 describes her work perfectly:
"Although Belkis Balpinar's modern kilims are woven in the traditional 'kilim' technique, there is nothing traditional about them, her creations are vibrant swirls of colour executed in dynamic abstract designs, whether hung on a wall as a 'mural kilim' or arranged as a rug on wooden or stone floors, her kilims become the focal point of the room. They are more than decoration, they are art."
While most of her pieces are woven for exhibitions, Belkis can and does undertake commissions - her most recent being 80 separate pieces for the Marmara - Manhattan Hotel, in New York.
Each piece is a unique creation, bearing her distinctive personal logo. And although occasionally she has been compelled to replicate a few of her most popular designs, ultimately no two pieces are identical. Prices vary between $1000 -$5000 depending on size and design. For the commissioned pieces she works closely with the client to produce a number of computer generated mock-ups of the finished work using different colours and textures, to be submitted for approval.
Between September 16 and October 7 she will be holding an exhibition of 30 of her own pieces in Milan's prestigious Galleria Morone.
Artist's Studio Address;
Belkis Balpinar
Koybasi Arkasi sok. No:4 D.2 Yenikoy 80870 Istanbul-Turkey
Tel.:90 212 2624148
belkis@superonline.com
For further information or to schedule a private showing of her collection, contact her associate, A.C. Brill at the following e-mail address:
All rights reserved. No part of this web page may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission from Belkis Balpinar.
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