On Natural Dyes: A Turkish Project

Dr. Jon Thompson

Dr. Jon Thompson, a renowned scholar of Islamic textiles, was for many years a research fellow at the Khalili Research Centre and the carpet research specialist for the May Beattie collection at the Ashmolean Museum. In addition to initiating and directing the organization of the May Beattie Carpet Archive, he gave numerous lectures on handwoven carpets, particularly Persian rugs. He taught various aspects of Safavid art and traveled to Iran many times. Dr. Jon Thompson passed away on 23 January 2020.

DOBAG is the Turkish acronym for the phrase “Natural Dye Research and Development Project”

(Doğal Boya Araştırma ve Geliştirme Projesi), and its aim is to revive the traditional art and craft of Turkish rug weaving. The project was launched under the direction of Dr. Harald Böhmer, the well-known German chemist and biologist, in collaboration with Marmara University in Istanbul. It provides a regular source of income for village dwellers in Anatolia, most of whom are women. The DOBAG initiative demonstrated a return to traditional rug production using handspun wool dyed with natural dyes, and similar projects with similar goals subsequently took shape in other rug-producing countries.

In 1981 a project was organized under the supervision of the Fine Arts Department of Marmara University in Istanbul to reintroduce natural dyeing among a group of villagers in western Turkey, under the name of the DOBAG project. In this region the villagers’ rug-weaving customs and traditions go back several centuries, yet over the previous 50 years the quality of their rugs had declined so severely that they had become the lowest grade on the market. By making their products cheaper, using the cheapest wool, the cheapest dyestuffs and the poorest weaving, they tried to compete in the world market, but despite all this their rugs did not sell. There was considerable economic pressure in the region, so much so that some villagers earned a living by illegally cutting down forest trees, while others left for the cities in the hope of finding better work.

The structure of the DOBAG project was made possible only through a long-term loan from the local government, and in this way the project began. The borrowing organization was a cooperative made up of merchants and subject to the rules and regulations imposed by the government, which regularly audited the cooperative’s accounts. Overall, long-term supervision of the project’s implementation was also initiated and carried out by the university.

Operating principles:

From the very start the project was based on certain principles that are regarded as the key to its long-term success.

1- The weavers continue to work in their homes as before. If they need a loom, they are given a loan to buy one.

2- The weavers use local raw materials such as local wool and dyes as far as possible, but if they do not have enough wool, the cooperative buys it and sells it to the weavers. The use of machine-spun wool is not accepted.

3- The cooperative buys the rugs woven by its members and pays them a premium above the market price, and at the end of the year the cooperative distributes the profits among the members in proportion to their work and participation.

4- The weavers are encouraged to weave local and traditional designs even in the absence of orders; the cooperative applies pressure in favor of traditional patterns by not buying non-traditional rugs, and a weaver is free to sell her work on the market if she wishes.

5- The cooperative maintains quality by refusing to buy badly woven rugs or rugs woven with unauthorized wool and dyes. The main problem here is yellow dyes, and only certain designs in this color are acceptable.

6- Any attempt to introduce new “fashionable” or “formal” designs violates the principles of the project.

The aims of the cooperative are as follows:

A – Preserving the traditional structure and social life of the family (by enabling weavers to work at home, in suitable places and at suitable times).

B – Independence of the weavers, who do not work under particular contracts or with compulsory use of particular colors and designs.

C – Preserving traditional designs and high standards of work by rewarding very good work.

Method of operation:

First, all weavers who wish to learn are trained in traditional dyeing methods. Where dye plants are not available locally, the means and methods of cultivating them are taught. In the second phase of the project, one or two master dyers in each village are trained and employed to dye all the wool on behalf of the cooperative.

Results achieved:

Weavers are paid per knot of work rather than per area of work. Within two years quality had improved to a satisfactory degree, and many foreign buyers were willing to pay more to help the project flourish and to buy naturally dyed rugs. When the first dividends were paid to the weavers, the villagers realized that the project was a serious undertaking and not merely an official program run for personal gain; a remarkable success had been achieved for the villagers. With the expansion of home-based or larger workshops and good wages paid for naturally dyed rugs, the project’s impact was soon recognized in the main markets, and imitations of the project became common throughout Turkey. Although many of these projects failed because of their exploitative nature and their lack of any benefit to the weavers, the reputation of rugs in the Istanbul market has nevertheless changed, and the original project continues its work in step with market demand.

Conclusion:

This project is evidence that naturally dyed rugs can be an important source of income at the village level. The demand among buyers in importing countries for naturally dyed rugs is something that increases over time. Today there is a strong current of attachment to the environment which, on the one hand, opposes synthetic products and, on the other, is aligned with the values of the past, through the loss of which, as many people believe, we have been ruined. Natural dye projects are not expensive projects but are based on renewable resources, and provided they are overseen by trustworthy and experienced supervisors, who are necessary for the survival of such projects, it is possible for those involved to gain benefits beyond those of the project itself. Iran’s social and market conditions are entirely suited to projects of this kind.