The looms in Çınar had worked on many fine carpets before, but none as large as the one they set out to create in 2003. They wanted over 100 square meters of silk carpet, something few had ever attempted. When they asked designer Pelin Ertuğrul for ideas, she presented three patterns. They chose one that spoke to them—”Noble.”
The task fell to eighteen of the most skilled weavers in the region. They worked under the leadership of Ms. Elif Canpolat, who had spent decades at the loom. The youngest of the team, Ms. Songül Turp, was only eighteen. Weaving a rug of that size would take patience, precision, and four long years. Before the work began, each weaver received their full wage in advance. Some left before the job was done. Three married and moved away. Fifteen remained to finish what they had started.
A special two-story workshop was built in a village to house the loom. Engineers designed a metal frame strong enough to hold the weight, gears adjusted for such a massive weave. The frame had to be assembled piece by piece inside the workshop, making it impossible to remove in one piece.
The work moved knot by knot. The silk ran smoothly through fingers, fine but strong. The pattern grew, lines stretched, curves formed, and the design was finished. By the time the last knot was tied, the weavers had tied sixty-four million in total. The rug stretched 8.50 meters by 12 meters, weighing 350 kilograms, though the raw silk used weighed nearly three times that amount.
Moving it out of the workshop proved another challenge. A wall had to be torn down, brick by brick. The finished rug was too large to fit through the doors. A crane lifted it onto a truck, careful not to bend the fibers, not to disturb the knots worked by so many hands.
The “Noble” rug took its place in history as the largest double-knotted silk carpet ever made. It carried the patience of eighteen weavers, the weight of four years, and the spirit of those who worked on it. Each knot held a story; each thread tied the past to the present. The loom in Çınar had spoken once again.
