We have just received a shipment at Maiwa East of over 30 DOGAG carpets. The order contains both luxurious pile carpets and incredible flat weaves. All colours on these carpets are from natural dyes and some of the carpets feature a rare violet which is obtained from cold dyeing madder with an iron mordant.

DOBAG is a Turkish anachronym which identifies the Natural Dye Research and Development Project. The project is a women's carpet weaving co-operative that celebrates the traditions of Anatolian weaving.

The seeds of DOBAG were first planted in 1960 with the arrival in Istanbul of a German professor of sciences, Dr. Harald Bohmer. Dr. Bohmer was taken with the richness of the material culture. But while frequenting the carpet bazaars and museum collections, he became aware of a shift in color harmony around the time of industrialization. With the introduction of synthetic dyes and a growing demand for production in the world market, carpets began to lose their natural (plant based) sympathetic color harmony. With the aim of reintroducing natural dyes the DOBAG project was born. More information can be found on the Maiwa web site.

Here are some samples from the new shipment.