A documentary on the making of New Zealand carpets - from the farm to the finished product. A short sequence on a sheep farm near Lake Wanaka, and the transportation of wool bales to the C.M.C Factory in Riccarton, Christchurch. The processes of carpet manufacture are shown, including the dying of the wool and the firm’s female designers at work. Shows a man contemplating a pohutukawa design on drawing board.
The staff at the factory include women workers, some of whom have dressed up for the camera. Close-ups of the machinery of the looms and the process of weaving. The narrator describes how there are 56 looms working day and night in the Riccarton factory. The film features a montage of mechanical looms at work as Mary O’Hara sings ‘The Weaving Song’.
The finished carpet is inspected, quality tested, and the carpet is laid. Interesting examples of New Zealand produced carpet designs, including many pictorial scenic designs.
Carpets produced at the factory are seen at the cocktail lounge of the Auckland Racing Club’s stand at the Ellerslie racecourse, the observation lounge at Christchurch International Airport, exterior of Benmore Pub, interior of the Carlton Hotel in Christchurch, exterior the Wellington Cinerama Theatre’s neon signs and then interior shot of carpeted stairway. Also many interior shots of contemporary homes and woman vacuuming new wall-to-wall carpet.
The film ends with fine examples of the variety of Riccarton carpet designs and a farmer mustering a flock of sheep.