Your Contact: Alexander von Manteuffel - Phone: +49 (0) 7171 / 10 43 87 77 Personal
Dr. Harald Böhmer
Dr. Harald Böhmer first came to Istanbul in 1960 to teach chemistry and biology at the German School and soon became fascinated by the colourful antique carpets in Istanbul's museums. By comparison the contemporary carpets he saw on sale in the Grand Bazaar struck him as ugly and lifeless.
He quickly discovered that the reason for the difference was the growing use of synthetic or so-called aniline dyes in Turkey since the 1860's. Returning to Istanbul in 1974 for a second posting, Dr. Böhmer wanted to explore the origins of organic dyes in hand-made carpets. With a grant from the German Research Society (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) and employing the thin-layer chromatography, a new laboratory technique, he analysed more than two hundred rugs in cooperation with Turkish museums.
He compared the natural colours he had discovered with the limited geographical distribution of relevant plants, and was thereby able to determine the exact origin of a great number of carpets . The second step was reconstructing traditional dyeing methods. After retirement from the teaching profession, and by now an expert in this new field, Dr. Böhmer was appointed to initiate the DOBAG project, funded by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and supervised by Istanbul´s Marmara Univesity.
After endless experiments and analysis, he and his wife Renate managed to reproduce the natural dyeing procedures of all the main colours.The area around Ayvacik was then discovered to be a region with a long and unbroken weaving tradition and with traditional village designs. In 1981 it fell to Mrs. Böhmer to convince the village women to return to traditional methods, since at that time direct contact with foreign men was not allowed.
To simplify the procedure for home dyeing, Dr. Böhmer and his wife devised recipes suitable for conditions in the villages. The commonplace tulip-shaped Turkish tea glass became a standard measuring cup. To market the "new" carpets the villagers were to form a self-financing cooperative. As the region between Bergama and Manisa appeared to fulfil the same ideal conditions a second cooperative was founded, and in 1983 with the help of the Böhmers it was turned into the first and to this day only women cooperative in Turkey . Both cooperatives work for export only so as to avoid intermediate trade. A further aim was to assure fair payment per knot for every female weaver after a strict quality check by the Marmara University experts. Dr. Böhmer has been in charge of this internationally successful project for over 20 years without personal financial gain. His generosity and honesty is without question a major contribution to the great success of the project, because the DOBAG-carpets stand not only for natural beauty but also for integrity regarding their production. Furthermore, Dr. Böhmer has been a worldwide acknowledged and sought-after expert for natural dyeing for many years.
Alexander von Manteuffel
My name is Alexander von Manteuffel. My wife was a music teacher and deputy-headmistress at the German School in Istanbul, and this is where we lived together with our children from 1991-1999. The DOBAG project has regular exhibitions in the end of November in Istanbul not far from the German School.
When we first saw the carpets it was not love at first sight, since these carpets seemed to us to be too colourful. Nevertheless, the idea and history behind the project persuaded us to purchase our first DOBAG carpet. Travelling into the DOBAG villages where the two cooperatives are based, we then learned a lot about the project and the rich natural colours began to fascinate us. We now have a collection of these wonderful carpets.
In 1999 I had the opportunity to accompany a television camera-team, which produced a documentary on the project.
Dr. Böhmer and I agreed that it was a pity that the project, while well-known in many countries all over the world was not promoted properly in Germany. This homepage, together with several exhibitions, will hopefully fill this gap.