Rugs Woven by Women’s Hands: Oriental Carpet
7 Oct 2008 Category: Business, Craftwork, Japan, Product
The rug in the papal audience room at the Vatican, a 300 tatami-sized rug in the Imperial Palace, rooms for receiving guests in countless historical buildings across Japan; all laid with rugs made in one place. In a small town in Yamagata Prefecture called Yamanobe known for its weaving and textiles, there is a rug manufacturer called Oriental Carpet. With just thirty artisans on staff, this tiny company makes handmade rugs of the highest caliber.
Interveiw by Takafumi Suzuki
Translation by Claire Tanaka
Ken Okuyama, who has designed for Ferrari, teaming up with an old established carpet manufacturer. I find that juxtaposition very fresh.
It started when Mr. Okuyama came to view the workshop. It was right around the time when Yamagata Kobo was founded and before the Japan Brand project and the Yamagata Carrozzeria Project had come along. Like you said, we did find Mr. Okuyama’s design to be very new to our eyes, and at first a lot of the staff had the reaction of, “What the hell is this?!” (laughs)
The thing that makes Oriental Carpet different from other rug manufacturers is the fact that you do everything by hand, isn’t that right?
Yes. It takes a very high level of technical skill and know-how to do the hand-weaving and hand-sewing that makes up our rug manufacturing methods. Only the most skilled artisans can do that, and even then they progress just seven centimeters per day, so on top of having good dexterity, they’ve also got to be patient. A mat for an home’s entryway takes a month, a rug for a six tatami room takes three months to complete. That’s why there’s only one company in all Japan that manufacturers large rugs by hand.
I can feel how fine the work is when I touch the rug. That must be thanks to your insisting that everything is done by hand.
But in our case, we have one more special technique that we use. It’s a technique called mercerizing (a chemical wash to add luster). Other companies can’t copy our technique even if they try. The technique we use to produce a unique luster and texture was developed over long years and it’s our technique alone.
Is it a technique you invented?
No, we didn’t. Actually, it’s originally a Chinese technique. All the other rug-making techniques are all from China as well. Our founder, in about 1935, brought seven rug experts over and learned their skills over the course of two years. In those days, relations between China and Japan were far from rosy. But the founder thought, “I want to somehow revive the textile and weaving traditions of Yamanobe.”
I see. That’s wonderful, the attitude of looking overseas to learn new techniques.
In those days, times were hard and girls often had to sell their bodies on the street to get by. Apparently the founder started the business because he wanted to give women a place to work.
So, do you still employ female artisans?
Yes. If you go to the factory, it’s all women. Women are particularly suited to the fine, delicate work that weaving requires. But the founder really focused on the work environment. People hear “factory with all women working in it” and they think of things like the movie “Ah! Nomugi Toge.” Bad conditions and long hours, stuff like that. But the founder made our factory with lots of space and light so the employees could do their work in comfort. I think the founder was more concerned with supporting the community than he was with making a profit.
Even now I get a strong sense of the company’s community involvement.
Yes. Actually, I went to university in Tokyo and I first got a job in the media, so I entered the company in a roundabout fashion. When I was young, I felt “Tokyo is better than Yamagata” but gradually my homing instinct began to kick in, and I came back to Yamagata. That’s why I feel I’ve got a stronger attachment to the land here than most people. I’d say in that way I have a similar dedication to community development as the founder did. I can really feel where he was coming from.
Are you related to the founder by blood?
No, actually the founder was my wife’s great-grandfather. That’s why I never even guessed that I would enter this company when I was a child. (laughs) I’d always been interested in the media, and that was why I went into that line of work after I graduated from university. And now I’m the fifth generation in a rug manufacturer. You never know what you’ll wind up with in life.
But, because of that experience I imagine you’re able to look at things in a calm and objective way, are you not?
Yes, that could be true. I think about what to do to preserve this craft. Opening the factory to tours so that not just interior design people but the general public can also learn more about what we do, doing collaborative works with designers, putting more effort into the textile art angle, I’m trying lots of new things. I think of it as my calling to leave this place in a better condition than I found it.
That’s the background behind why you’ve got a Ferrari designer working with you.
But, actually that project was really tough to get off the ground. (laughs) At first, everyone was all, “what the hell!” but it was really hard to produce what Mr. Okuyama called for, and at first the artisans who were working on it were thinking “Where are we going to put this fantastic pattern?” And I started to get nervous. But it was a funny thing, once it was done and we’d let it sit for a little while, the artisans started to say “It’s a wonderful balance of color and form.” When highly skilled artisans and designers get together, they can make wonderful things. That’s why I want to keep going, learning from my mistakes along the way, so I can keep these techniques for the next generation, doing manufacturing with a good spicy kick to it.
Oriental Carpet Mills, Ltd.
Yamanobe-cho 21, Higashimurayama-gun, Yamagata
Hiroaki Watanabe
Born in 1961, in Togashine City. President of Oriental Carpet.
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PingMag MAKE is the sister site to PingMag. We use an interview format to put the spotlight on a wide range of people active in rural areas. We document the voices of these unknown heroes and broadcast them to the world. It’s the Japan-based magazine about people and making things, coming out once a week. We’re passing on the passion, ideas, skills, and life stories of people who are building today and exploring tomorrow: craftsmen, engineers, entrepreneurs, and inventors. Stay tuned!
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Is that a rug of Hokusai’s 36 views of Mt Fuji (Kanagawa-oki)?? Is there a front shot of that I’d love to see it, fabulous work btw.
Posted by: rmt on October 8th, 2008 at 11:44 am
i love the purple one. great job :3!
Posted by: edoshama on October 12th, 2008 at 8:02 am
These rugs are beautiful.
Posted by: Shirley Isaacs on November 12th, 2008 at 12:33 am
I love the Sakura rug. So beautiful.
~diana
Posted by: DIANA WELLS on April 19th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Hello, I’m Miss Hellen, thanks for your blog, I found 2 manufacturer www.bosi-carpet.com & www.goldensilkroad.com who produce beauful handmade oriental rugs and french aubusson, maybe it is useful for you. It would be grateful if it can pass!
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