Karavan

Brothers Asim, Muzaffer, and Huseyin Kaplan founded Karavan in Konya in 1982.  Today, Karavan and the Kaplan brothers are known as collectors’ collectors and dealers’ dealers, and a visit to their six-floor wonderland just minutes from Rumi’s Tomb and the Mevlana Museum is a requirement for any textile love, collector, or interior designer.

Asim Kaplan started working with carpet dealers while still in high school, and in 1978 started working with other young partners.  Quickly realizing a talent for languages as well as an innate eye for textiles (talents shared by all the Kaplan brothers), Asim Kaplan expanded from Turkish, French and English to mastering seven languages.

Active collectors, Karavan has a huge inventory of semi-old and vintage kilims, antique and collectable carpets, kilims, and textiles, as well as unique collections of Taurus Mountain felts and Cihanbeli kilims.  Karavan also specializes in Ottoman textiles and embroideries like peşkir and yağlık, as well as Anatolian architectural and wooden pieces such as antique doors.  Karavan also offers antique ceramics - kınık, Çanakkale, and Kutahya ware as well as one of the biggest Kuzetsov collections – and other collectables like beaded money pouches, reverse glass paintings, and many other treasures.

In textiles, Karavan is especially known for its vast collection of fine antique carpets and kilims, Anatolian tüylüs, but it is also the source for funky vintage carpets from the 1960s and incredible Zeki Müren carpets. 

Karavan produces new, custom handmade carpets and kilims and was one of the first producers to start offering, in 1992, new production carpets and flatweaves using only natural dyes. 

Karavan’s massive shop in Konya is a destination for buying carpets, kilims, and textiles. Known by textile collectors, dealers, and designers around the world, the Kaplan brothers are also famous hosts, serving wonderful, authentic lunches to customers in the shop.  Many customers become regular customers and friends, making the short jump from Istanbul to Konya on every trip to Turkey.