Oriental Carpet Manufacturers

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The company Oriental Carpet Manufacturers (OCM) of London was a major player in the production and trading of Oriental carpets . It existed from 1907/8 to 1968. One of the managing directors was Arthur Cecil Edwards , author of a standard work on the Persian carpet .

history

Oriental Carpet Manufacturers Ltd share dated February 11, 1913

The production of Turkish carpets in the Ottoman Empire has been largely dominated by Ottoman, European and American trading houses since around 1830, who further expanded their already leading role in carpet production and export. In the course of industrialization , wages rose in the western world. More and more people were able to afford prestigious oriental carpets. Very popular in Europe since the 14th century, they were considered luxury goods for the wealthy few.

The traditional center for carpet weaving was the Central Anatolian region around Uşak and Konya , from whose factories almost 75% of all exported carpets came in the 1870s and 1880s. Due to rapidly increasing demand, trading houses based in Istanbul and Smyrna expanded their production facilities in Anatolia and competed with the Muslim trading consortia in Usak. These consortia made materials such as pre-dyed yarn available to the knotters , who often work from home and at low wages, and influenced the design of patterns in order to be able to meet the corresponding market demand. The Ottoman government promoted the processes through sample exhibitions, quality controls and handicraft schools, for example in Konya and Kırşehir .

The Oriental Carpet Manufacturers was founded in Smyrna in late 1907 / early 1908 by a group of English merchants. They quickly penetrated into Persia . Looms and other technical equipment were initially obtained from Germany and Austria. The first production facilities were in what is now the Anatolian province of Manisa . Around 1910, traditional manufacturers were only exporting 10% of carpet sales. In contrast, OCM expanded to Persia in 1911. A carpet production facility was set up in Hamadan , which meant that development took off. High dividends have already been paid out. In 1924 Edwards took over the management in London and expanded the business into the United States. In order to reduce production costs, he outsourced carpet production to India. As early as 1912, the OCM controlled the majority of all looms (around 12,000 pieces) in Konya Province . About 15-20,000 weavers were employed.

In the 1960s, OCM shares were still traded on the London Stock Exchange, but the company came under increasing competitive pressure due to offers from all over the world. The aim was to increase quality and develop new sales channels. Thanks to technical innovations, it was initially possible to continue working successfully. By means of chemical pretreatments, new carpets could be given the patina of old carpets, which resulted in heels. In 1986 the company was sold and merged with Eastern Kayam , originally one of the subsidiaries.

Technology and pattern design of the OCM using the example of the production in Hamadan

Turkish (symmetrical) knot with double warp thread (top, red)

Edwards recorded the OCM production in Hamadan in his work "The Persian Carpet" . The region was shaped by the tradition of village carpet weaving, until 1912 there was no municipal manufacture there. Edwards started out with a small manufacture of eight looms. Around 1948 there were over 1000 looms in the city, the largest manufacture alone had 120 looms. The production of a carpet according to the quality criteria set by Edwards had to take into account several factors: the way the knot is tied ( symmetrical or asymmetrical ), the knot density, the twist and thickness of the warp threads , the number and thickness of the weft threads and the wool yarn for the Pile , the choice of colors used, the pattern design, all taking into account the manufacturing costs.

Edwards opted for a base fabric with double warp threads, similar in thickness, structure and density to the carpets from Bidschar , but with a cotton base fabric instead of the woolen base fabric of classic Bidschar carpets. The symmetrical (“Turkish”) knot typical of the region around Hamadan should be knotted, which creates a thicker, heavier pile than the asymmetrical “Persian” knot. After a number of trials, a knot density of 10 x 11 knots per square inch was found to be optimal. This allowed a sufficiently dense pattern to be made at an acceptable cost. OCM obtained the wool from Kurdish nomads from Kermanshah . Initially it was carded by hand, after a few years it was machine carded , but always spun by hand. Dyeing was initially carried out with synthetic dyes under the direction of an Armenian who was trained in Germany in the correct use of the dyeing process. The results were so unsatisfactory that the company soon - and decades later - used classic Persian natural colors. For the pattern design, "typical Persian" patterns were designed based on the example of the large Safavid carpets of the 16th century, which were later adapted to the tastes of American buyers. Edwards named his product "Alvānd" after the nearby mountains to distinguish it from the traditional Hamadan carpets.

See also

literature

  • Donald Quataert: Ottoman Manufacturing in the Nineteenth Century. In: Donald Quataert (Ed.): Manufacturing in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey 1500-1950. State University of New York Press, Albany 1994, pp. 110-111.
  • Antony Wynn: Three Camels to Smyrna: Times of War and Peace in Turkey, Persia, India, Afghanistan & Nepal 1907–1986. The Story of the Oriental Carpet Manufacturers Company. Hali Publications 2008. ISBN 978-1-898113-67-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A. Cecil Edwards: The Persian Carpet: A Survey of the Carpet Weaving Industry of Persia . Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd, London 1953, ISBN 978-1-4683-1368-0 . Current edition: October 2016
  2. ^ A b Donald Quataert: Ottoman manufacturing in the age of the industrial revolution . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK 1993, ISBN 978-0-521-89301-5 , pp. 134–160 ( limited preview in Google Book search). , here: p. 153
  3. ^ Donald Quataert: Ottoman manufacturing in the age of the industrial revolution . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK 1993, ISBN 978-0-521-89301-5 , pp. 134–160 ( limited preview in Google Book search). , here: pp. 154–5
  4. ^ RPT Davenport-Hines, Geoffrey Jones, British Business in Asia Since 1860
  5. ^ A b A. Cecil Edwards: The Persian Carpet: A Survey of the Carpet Weaving Industry of Persia . Gerald Duckworth & Co., Ltd, London 1953, p. 96-99 . First edition 1953