Ipek Yolu & Silk Road Ltd. is located in Konya-Turkey, has been producing the finest quality traditional modern patterned kilims and carpets using premium quality of hand spun wool and natural dyes since 1985. As the Company we are focused on producing kilims and carpets in huge variety of sizes and patterns. It is also possible to order your modern drawings as kilims, carpets. On the other hand we have exclusively produced Usak Rugs, using old yarn and natural dyes.
Ipek Yolu & Silk Road Ltd. also carries on collecting semi – old kilims, cicims as well as have tribal Persian and Anatolian unique antiques.
Ipek Yolu & Silk Road’s Toros Kilim line is offering you the best quality for the most reasonable price. Toros Kilims are 100 % high quality hand spun wool, dyed naturally and hand woven. We aspire from the traditional motifs and aim to revive the ancient art at its best. Therefore, we only use highly selected organic-natural dyes that are ensured for their rich and clear colors that resist years of usage without any trace of fading. Our designs combine artistic simplicity with traditional motifs. Moreover, we are ready to fulfill your order and exceptionally well equipped to produce any of your designs.
Reputations about us;
* “The artistic naturally-dyed kilims woven in the Toros region (south of Konya) for Konya’s Mehmet Ucar (Ipek Yolu & Silk Road), Ucar’s limited production shows a mastery of the “traditional” skills of design, technique and colour. (HALI – The International Magazine of Antique Carpet and Textile Art, Page: 145, Issue 85, March / April 1996)
* “We are wary of recommending carpet dealers, but if you are in the market for high quality pieces, consider trying Ipek Yolu, Silk Road, Mevlana Cadddesi, Naci Fikret Sk. No: 1 Konya. Phone: +90332 350 08 42. The owner, Mehmet Ucar, exports to the USA and has a solid reputation in the business. He is among the first to return to traditional natural dyes, which yield vivid, beautiful colors.”
(Adam Peck & Manja Sachet, “ Turkey Guide/Be A Traveler – Not A Tourist”. Open Road Publishing, 2nd Edition. Page: 351, 1999, New York USA.
“Here and there you have other small rug workshops using natural vegetable dyes. It is impossible to mention all of them. However, I must tell you about Mehmet Ucar in Konya Turkey, another good source, especially for kilims or flatweaves. He is known for his mastery of obtaining some intresting colors and color combinations using yellow, red and indigo bule, and is often called “the King of Yellow” especially by collectors and rug buyers in the USA.
(The Magazine of Cleaning and Restoration – The Official Publication Of ASCR International. Issue 10 October 2001 / Purchasing Rugs in Turkey. Page:21)
* “ The Dye is Recast: Most natural dye recipes were lost during the twentieth century as artificial dyes came into vogue. Small wonder-artificial dyes were less expensive, easier to use, and readily available. Alas, artificial dyes have also proved to be far, far less permanent than natural dyes, and natural dye rugs are now at a premium. Enter Mehmet Uçar, one of several men acknowledged for having pieced together many of the lost dye recipes. This is a trickier proposition than it sounds. Condsider that to create a specific color, the dye maker must know the plants to use, where and when to harvest each plant (including the nature of the sail), the heat and time for cooking and steeping the plant, and the recipe for mixing, if necessary.
Mehmet has sat down with old-timers in villages throughout the Taurus Mountains, picking their brains for clues about this rich re, or that deep green. In the end, he has had great success, but only afat much rial and erre-including and error that could have killed him.
While boiling and stirring a mix with mullein, in search of a warm, mustared yellow, the fumes knocked Mehmet out-had he not had a helper on hand to drag him clear, the fumes might have killed him.” (Adam Peck & Manja Sachet, “ Turkey Guide/Be A Traveler – Not A Tourist”. Open Road Publishing, USA. Page:382, the last edition.
* “ IPEKYOLU- The attraction of the colors dying with plants. This shop has a long history with carpets and kilims. Their products are made with dye from plants and their carpets have many differnt colors because the plants they use depend on the regions. Mr. Mehmet Ucar is expert at carpets, and once he sees carpets, can tell where they are from, and which plants are used. Why don’t you ask friendly staff ? The price depends on material and size.. They have many carpets and kilims which are high quality. Some craftsmen come to this shop for training their skills because of long standing. (“Tukui Michiko, Suga Naoko”, Rurubu Turkey 2003-2004, JTP, Rurubu sha Kaigaihenshu kyoku JTB Building 7 F 2-3-Higashi Shinagawa, Shinagawa ku, Tokyo, Japan http://rurubu.com/ )
* “ Returning again to Mevlana Caddesi, after few meteres take the first right-hand turn before you reach Karavan into Naci Fikret Sokak, and facing you at no:1 Ipek Yolu , whose owner Mehmet Ucar is an internationally well-known dealer, an interesting man who runs probably the only non-smoking rug shop in Turkey. He was born in the Taurus Mountains into a nomadic family belonging to the Sari Kecili or “yellow goat” tribe, and became one of the early converts to the natural dyeing, even learning some recipes from his grand-mother who wove zili (flatwoven cover). He has a big production of new kilims and some carpets, with up to one hundred looms in the Taurus and around Konya. In his shop, alongside the new weavings, he keeps some semi-old and antique pieces. “Turkey the rug guide Anthony Hazledine, The HALI guide to buying carpets, kilims and textiles in Turkey. page:164”
