Decline in Weaving
Before 1980s, the story of Turkish carpets was not happy one. There was a
decline in the standards of carpet weaving. There were several reasons for that.
First of all demand for the certain carpets designs changed and collapsed.
Secondly, the arrival of sentetic dyes and full scale adoption of their use
cause some problems in quality and estetical matters.
Carpet weavers had difficult times. Depression years, First and Second world
wars undermined the customers main production base. Important social changes in
the west also affected the carpets weaving. The number of multi roomed big
houses declined enormously. The priorities for the families changed. Oriental
rugs also fell out of fashion. In order the meet the demands, carpet producers
tried to cut the cost and quality of the rugs dropped enormous way.
The arrival of chemical dyes was in 1860, but their common use was in 1870s.
Their use caused a disastrous effect on the quality of carpets. In addition to
this the quality of weaving also changed. As the rural communities became poorer,
the need for the production of commercial carpets became urgent. Rugs were woven
for unknown end users, costs were cut and designs are adapted and changed
according to tastes of the customers.