The Van is a market town for this area bordering on Iran, ancient Persia. Van kilims are known for their design compositions consisting of diamond-shaped medallions designated as “hooked” or “crenellated”, repeated down the length of the kilim with the repeated pattern separated by narrow bands.

The kilims are usually made in slitweave, in two halves, with narrow slits and narrow borders. There are some design variations with smaller diamonds and plain horizontal bands, but the palette is almost invariably dark, with reds, browns and blues, with contrasts in white.