Desen Halicilik: The Spinners

Our next stop was not far: Desen Halicilik, the Carpet Weavers’ Association in Bergama. For those who had succeeded in side-stepping the carpet sellers in Istanbul, this was a perfect opportunity to buy a quality rug from a reputable place in a relaxed environment.

Desen Halicili is a women’s coop which represents 144 villages and 17,000 women. Here women learn the art of carpet weaving and later, working from home, can earn a good living at it. In coops such as this one, the workers keep 99% of the profit earned from the sales.

Not only did the philosophy of this coop appeal to me, I enjoyed the fact that there were no high-pressure salespeople cajoling you into their shop, calling out guesses regarding your country of origin, or other amusing tactics that became tedious after awhile.

Here at this co-op, business is brought in only by word of mouth and invitation. There are no kickbacks for the tour guides. And your purchase is guaranteed to be a beautiful, handmade piece of art.

Waiting to enter the Desen Halicilik Coop

As we grouped outside the building, a man came out to introduce himself and explain how the coop works. Next we followed him into a large room with a number of displays.

He explained how no chemicals are used to dye the weaving materials used here (wool, cotton, and silk). Only natural products, such as walnut shell, onion skin, saffron, henna, and others create the array of colors found in the intricate designs.

Off to one side was a silk spinning display. Little white pods containing silk worms bobbed in a large, round vat of water.

These silk pods are immersed in water to first loosen their threads before being spun

A silk pod

From these pods, a woman was spinning strands of silk which were then wound onto a kind of wheel.

The silk strands were then gathered into long hanks of what looked like smooth, shiny doll’s hair which could then be dyed and woven into carpets.

The next area was the spinning and weaving room where women were sitting on the floor or very low benches, spinning the carded wool with drop spindles, or in front of looms, weaving carpets before our eyes.