Weavers bringing their
carpets to OCM in Smyrna
The
History of OCM |
OCM
from East to the West |
The images on the following pages illustrate OCM's evolution from a large company in a small Turkish town to an Oriental carpet giant in the City of London, controlling a huge network stretching over Asia. The images on the following pages illustrate OCM's evolution from a large company in a small Turkish town to an Oriental carpet giant in the City of London, controlling a huge network stretching over Asia. |
| OCM - in the minds of many people among the most British of companies - began life based in the market town of Smyrna, a famous centre for the making of Turkish carpets, but otherwise a million miles from anywhere. This was the OCM headquarters in Smyrna's main square: | |
|
|
OCM's first HQ in Smyrna in 1908 | Weavers bringing their
carpets to OCM in Smyrna |
|
|
|
| |
| The famous photo
(in the Oriental carpet world at least) on the right shows locally made
Turkish carpets being brought in by local village weavers to the giant new
company that had suddenly sprung up in their midst. Most of the carpets comprised the ubiquitous red and blue 'Turkey' carpets still in use in many English town and country homes. With its standardised design, two basic colours and quickly-made but highly durable quality, OCM created in the Turkey Carpet the first-ever widely affordable handmade Oriental carpet. When it almost immediately became one of Europe's biggest selling types of carpet, handmade or machine made, OCM reached a level of success that went far beyond anyone's wildest expectations. |
History |
||||
|
|
|
|