We recently had an enquiry from a previous client in the Highland Perthshire, who had sold their house and was moving to Surrey on the outskirts of London for their retirement. They had five rugs for assessment and wanted them picked up from the Scottish address and delivered once restored to their new address in England – which of course we can do!
The rugs were a mixture of wool Tabriz rugs (3) and two silk Qum, all Persian rugs in origin. We brought them back to our Edinburgh workshops for assessment and found the Tabriz rugs to be in a good state of repair and just needing a dust extract, hand wash and a precautionary moth treat. The largest of them needed a very small repair in the corner, where a vacuum cleaner had chewed off a small piece of the cotton fringe.
The two Qum’s were not so good, needing small holes repaired caused by sparks from an open fire, the fringes needed attention and the cords running up the long sides were thin and in need re-weaving.
We had the necessary wools and silks in stock for the restoration, so we could get to work quite quickly on the collection. Because of the high knot count on the silk rugs, the work did take longer than normally expected for a woolen piece, but once the weaving had been done, it was impossible to see where the damage had been and the repair was seamless. We secured the fringes, dyed silk to match the existing cords and once hand bound they
looked as good as they had ever done. Both rugs were completely stable and ready for another ten years or so of heavy use.
The Persian Tabriz rugs were beautiful when completed. The lanolin in the wool shone again, giving the rugs a lustre that would have been there after they were first woven.
All five were delivered to their new home and strategically placed to dhow them off in their respective rooms (away from open fires). We supplied non slip underlay for each piece, cut to size and installed in the property in Surry by one of our London rug repair team. As previous clients, they were not surprised at the results, but were delighted to see their beautiful rugs brought back to life and looking “wonderful”.
Thank you to Mr and Mrs C for being such amazing clients over the years!