In business, they say your client list speaks for itself. With a client list that includes the Japanese Imperial Palace and the Vatican, Oriental Carpet Mills is doing something right.

Since 1935, this carpet mill has manufactured and supplied premium quality carpets (in addition to their notable clients mentioned above), to government offices, public facilities, major corporations, hotels, restaurants and places of worship in Japan and around the world. While the client list grows impressive the further you go down, the company has stayed true to its roots, still producing out of its original location in the small town of Yamanobe, Yamagata Prefecture, in the Northeastern region of Japan.

Oddly enough, the story of Oriental Carpet Mills begins with severely damaged crops during an especially cold winter in the 1930s. Since the severe cold nearly ruined the farmers' crops, many local women and girls were being forced out of their homes to work in less-than-desirable conditions—some even forced in to prostitution—because their families didn't have money to feed themselves. The founder, Junnosuke Watanabe, decided to rectify his town's situation by employing (almost exclusively) women to work in his new carpet mill. In order to further his carpet mill's quality and skill level, Watanabe invited seven carpet-making experts from China to trade their skills and knowledge with the workers in his factory. Through continual iteration and improvement, Oriental Carpet Mills has refined (and continues to diligently iterate on) their process in order to achieve the quality that attracted their high profile clients. To this day, the staff at the carpet mill remains heavily female.

The process behind Oriental Carpet Mill's high quality product contains the following 4 steps, carried out by highly skilled craftspeople:

1.) Spinning and blending meticulously selected wool from all over the world.

2.) Carefully dying (and testing the dye) to create subtle color differences

3.) Weaving process that is continually iterated with new techniques to create detailed designs and subtle color transitions

4.) Mercerizing, or a chemical wash that produces a sheen and smooth touchWhile the meticulous attention to detail at each step of the process and a constant spirit of innovation make this quality possible, it's also the fact that Oriental Carpet Mills has maintained an unwavering principle of independence and quality control by keeping the whole process in-house, from spinning to mercerizing as well as after-services like repairing and restoring. (The motherly love from the largely middle-aged, local female staff probably doesn't hurt either.)

In keeping with their philosophy of iteration and continual improvement—way before iteration was cool for designers or Internet companies—Oriental Carpet Mills keeps on their toes, introducing modern designs with their traditional craft, including a recent cooperation with internationally acclaimed automobile designer for Ferrari and fellow Yamagata native, Ken Okuyama. Most recently, the company completed production of a huge carpet, 26 × 11 meters, which was placed in the newly renovated Kabuki Theater in the Ginza district of Tokyo.

Kai Mitsushio is the co-founder of wakumi, a business-to-business marketplace that brings together the companies behind the finest products and services from Japan with businesses from around the world. Special thanks to Tomoko Miyake for coordinating.