These carpets are the result of an idea initiated some 30 years ago by Dr Harald Böhmer, a chemistry teacher at Marmara University at that time. The aim was ‘to preserve and facilitate the production of traditional Turkish carpets within the context of Turkish village life’ and he succeeded admirably. Only natural dyes are used and the resultant colours glow like jewels. The carpets are renowned for their glorious blues, reds, and greens; the pile is thick and luxurious.
They are woven in villages surrounding two centres, Ayvacık and Manisa. We are very familiar with the Ayvacık centre as it is close to Assos where we go in the summer. We know the people and I have visited the villages to see where the looms are located and met some of the women who do the weaving. We always attend this sale and invariably end up buying one or two.
WHERE: the Crimean Church ( go down the street beside the Swedish Consulate and down and left from the German High School at the Tünel end of İstiklal Caddesi, Beyoğlu). There is a handy metro stop there.
For more information, contact Linda Robinson on yapmaya@yahoo.com
Click here to read more about the DOBAG Rug project.
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Ulrike Bohmer, daughter of Dr Harald and Renata Bohmer and Dr Şerife Atlıhan will be on hand to answer questions and do a dye demonstration on Saturday, December 1st from 09:30 to 16:00, and on Sunday, December 2, from 12:00 to 16:00, at the Crimean Memorial Church, just down the street from the German School.
DOBAG, a Turkish acronym for Natural Dye Research and Development Project, is responsible for weaving some of the finest carpets in the world today. Started in 1982 by Dr. Harald and Renata Bohmer in the villages south of Istanbul, Turkey, the DOBAG project has restored the integrity of the ancient folk art of hand weaving carpets and established in these villages the first woman’s rug-weaving cooperative in the Islamic world.
Since its inception, The DOBAG Project has produced superior carpets with natural plant dyes and traditional Turkish motifs. The women use only the finest sheep’s wool gathered during the spring shearing when the wool is most resilient and lustrous. The wool is then hand-carded and hand-spun before it is vegetable dyed with locally cultivated plant matter.
DOBAG Weavers
Each woman creates a carpet in her own home using the motifs and symbols of her ancestors, and then she sells her carpet to the cooperative. The cooperative is under the supervision of the University of Marmara in Istanbul. Each carpet must be superior in color, construction and overall design before receiving the DOBAG stamp of approval.
i would so love to go there. i would go a bit crazy buying rigs!
These are so gorgeous, they're very hard to resist!
Thanks for the reminder. We never get away from that sale without buying something.
I know – we may not go just for that very reason!!
I so wish we could be there! We bought 2 rugs in Kusadsi on our honeymoon and they are so elegant – and gorgeous reminders of our time there.
Oh buying carpets here is such fun – I can imagine how much pleasure you get out of yours!
We are lucky enough to live next to a village that still make carpets using only vegetable dyes. There are often big caldrons bubbling in the garden – full of wool.
Can you put some pics on your blog? I would love to see these.