Fade in Turkey: Hundreds of carpets are laid out in the sun to soften their colour in traditional technique used to boost the rugs’ value
- Striking images taken by a drone captured the patchwork quilt of carpets laid out in Dosemealti, Anatalya
- Local women and boys mainly carry out the work for 60 lira (about £8) per day during the hot summer months
- The rugs are washed, dried and dusted before they are eventually put out in the fields for around a month
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Remarkable photos show hundreds of handwoven rugs being laid out in the sun as part of a traditional process in rural Turkey.
Aerial images show the patchwork quilt of carpets being placed side-by-side on a plain in Dosemealti, Anatalya – a remote and mountainous district in the east of the country.
The stunning process takes place every year in the region and is carried out to soften the colour of the vivid dyes inside the carpets to suit Western tastes.
Over several painstaking weeks the rugs are washed, dried and dusted before being laid out in the scorching heat of the sun.
The work is mainly carried out by local women and boys who are paid a wage of around 60 lira (about £8) with around 25,000 rugs being laid out across almost 500 acres of land.
They wait about a month before taking the carpets from the fields and dusting them again, ready to be sold.
A drone photo shows thousands of colorful hand made carpets laid under the sun on a field on Monday to soften their color in Dosemealti district of Turkey’s Southern touristic province Antalya
Thousands of hand-woven rugs are laid out in the fields over the summer months, creating a remarkable patchwork of colors which can be seen for many miles around
Approximately 25,000 rugs are laid across almost 500 acres of land in the decades-old process which is intended to soften the vivid colours of the weave to suit Western tastes
Carpet layers have become experts on the technique. Merchants simply tell them how much the colors should fade, then trust them to achieve the desired result
The extremely hot temperatures in the Mediterranean region helps to soften the texture and colours of the dyes over a month-long period
Carpets are thoroughly prepped before being laid out, being washed, dried and dusted before eventually being taken out to the plain