We were asked recently by a client in Chelsea, London if we could clean and repair their large antique Kirman Persian carpet and a number of small rugs. We have a highly skilled team that specialist in Antique Persian Rug Cleaning and Repair – so we thought we would share this blog with you.
The rugs were collected from Manresa Road and taken back to our workshop for appraisal. The smaller Persian rugs simply needed a hand wash and moth treatment to ensure there was no moth infestation in the rugs. The larger carpet was c.1880 in age and stunning example of a fine handmade, vegetable dyes carpet. It did however, require expensive restoration, especially to the fringed ends and badly threadbare sections.Persian Rug Cleaning
The image above we hope displays our ability to bring Persian and Oriental rugs like this example back to life. The fringes are often the first part of a handmade rug to begin to pull apart. Many people think that the fringe is stitched into a rug, as perhaps a final decorative edition. However, fringes on good quality handmade rugs are simply and extension of the warp and weft foundations. These are the foundations (mostly in hand spun cotton) upon which the woolen or silk knots are tied.
There are a several options to restoring and repairing antique oriental rug fringes – from leveling and securing (prevention) to re-weaving and re-building the foundations to structurally add new fringes to the rug (not stuck on!). In the example above, the very short deteriorated rug fringe in the top image could potentially be secured and used as a small fringe – however, our client in this particular example was keen to restore the look and feel of the rug and therefore insisted we re-weave as original a fringe as humanly possible. Each strand of fringed cotton was painstakingly re-woven back through the foundation, giving a full and substantial fringe back to the rug.
Once we had re-built the fringed end, we hand washed the carpet. This allowed the restored sections to blend in colour with the original wools and look as close to the original fringe on colour and design as possible.
We regularly clean and repair Antique Persian rugs for our clients in London, Edinburgh and further afield. If you would like to discuss your rug with one of our team, please do get in touch.
www.orrc.co.uk
The number one company in London & Edinburgh for Antique Persian Rug Cleaning and Repair