While made by using traditional materials worked
onto a traditional medium, Tollu rugs are the
tangible result of an endeavor that surpasses the actual content
of the object per se.
The original designs of these rugs, created by weaving hand-spun
yarns dyed with natural colors, are
made up of abstract/geometric forms. This is a reflection, I
think, of the artist’s training in architecture. These triangles,
circles, squares, crosses and rectangles are nothing more than
the symmetric, asymmetric forms that make up the design molecules
of modern architectural language, or that are derived from the
etymological roots of the alphabet of this language. These well-known
forms and shapes have been constructed of lightly colored yarns
and one cannot help but be enthralled by the luminous quality
of the weave that forms iridescent visual illusions. In opposition
to their name, these rugs invite one to touch but never reflect
the sensation that these are meant to be trod on.
In addition to these abstract geometric forms,
also woven into the rugs are reinterpretations of those elements
that we easily recognize from western contemporary paintings
and symbols that we know from Turkish calligraphy. And within
this process, the appeal of creating this elements by weaving
them into a rug may even extend to the creation of new natural
abstractions.
The color stains which one would think were
made by almost spontaneous gestures – almost as if they had
been done by a brush – are created with the artist’s use of
yarns of varying colors. While creating the rug surface the
artist may, on the one hand, utilize the freedom inherent in
improvisation, but may also, on the other hand, weave in solid
colored squares and rectangles.
The artist overturns
the organizational limits and ornamental formats of rug-making
and goes entirely outside of these restrictions by freely rebelling
against this tradition. With his creation of forms, shapes and
techniques of rug-making and even to ask how he has managed
to create such objects. This is the same kind of freedom as
that of paint on canvas.
These are colors and forms that
are both restricted by the dictates of the weaving technique
while they also rise up against the authority of these dictates.
I believe that it is exactly this conflict that makes Tollu’s
rugs original and free.
For more information on Tollu Carpets, please inquire at sales1@kilim.com
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