DOBAG Carpet Initiative

DOBAG is the Turkish acronym for "Doğal Boya Araştırma ve Geliştirme Projesi" (the Natural Dye Research and Development Project).

The DOBAG initiative marks the return of the traditional rug production by using hand-spun wool dyed with natural colours, which was subsequently adopted in other rug-producing countries.

[1] The DOBAG project started in 1981, led by Harald Boehmer, a German chemistry and biology teacher, in cooperation with the Marmara University in Istanbul.

[4][5] The aesthetic effect in oriental carpets with synthetic colours was described by A. Cecil Edwards as "having a hard, metallic look" and being "dull and dead".

The carpets are made of hand spun sheep wool, dyed locally with natural dyes prepared according to the recipes as experimentally re-established.

The commercial branch of the initiative directly exports the carpets to authorized dealers only, thus avoiding intermediate trade.

On a social level, the project aims at halting the effects of urbanization by providing a continuous source of income to village women.

[1] The DOBAG project's combination of commercial and social goals has inspired similar initiatives to use profits made from carpet weaving to improve the social and economic situation of the weavers, including the following: Scientific interest in the history and ethnology of oriental carpet weaving arose in the late 19th century.