Currently investigating the activities and output of this London Bond Street supplier who purchased Wilton Carpet Company (1860) made carpets for St. George's Chapel Windsor (1842/3) Great Exhibition (1851). Alfred Lapworth & Co, Carpet were Manufacturers to Her Majesty & the Royal Family, 22 Old Bond Street, London. Also possibly at 19/20 Old Bond Street.
The image shown is part of our compenium of Suppliers and Manufactuers prior to 1951 the full list may be seen here:
Having been chosen to restore a huge Sultanabad Ziegler carpet (not in picture), we have loaned an item from stock temporarily in order to help preserve the functionality of the main reception room at Kingston Bagpuize House Oxfordshire. This working house is used for film sets and for marriages and other conferences and social gathering in the house and grounds.
For more information: https://kbhevents.uk/
In the run up to the Spring season in order to safeguard and guarantee stock from moth and insect infestation a laboratory quality freezer has been installed to run at -45c. Treatments to existing customer collections are offered free of charge provided all delivery arrangements are handled by interested parties.
It is indeed a very great privilege to be requested to assist in the well being and active curation of what is probably the largest William Morris carpet in extent. The management of carpet of approx 75 sq. mt weighs in excess of 600 kilos is an enormous logistical undertaking requiring eight fit persons to moove it.
The carpet was originally made at the old William Morris & Co Mersham Abbey for the Wyndham family at Clouds House designed by Philip Webb who had done the Red House for William Morris himself. In the 1920s the Wyndham family had a house sale and the present owners grandfather ( a contemporary of Morris ) purchased the carpet for the Gloucestershire house where it has remained ever since.
Having proposed that the carpet be fully conserved in three phases thus far have achieved the first stage in 2021 with a complete washing offsite and retention of some areas. In 2022 and 2023 is hoped to do additional conservation and the replacement of some old restoration.
The Handel and Hendrix House is a living museum in Brook Street, Mayfair London an address that both musicians shared albeit 200 years apart. It is a little known fact the Jimi Hendrix was a rug collector as evidenced in the photos of the time. Since the recreation of Hendix's old flat at the address about 6 years ago we have worked alongside the museum in the role of curator / donor. Finding antique rugs is difficult enough but the task of locating rugs from the late 1960s or early 1970s is certainly more challenging than one might imagine. In the B/W photo can be seen an Ardebil rug in the Shirvan / Azerbaijan manner of the period a duplicate of which has been searched for since the Hendrix room opened so far without success. In August 2021 we managed to procure on behalf of the Museum a very similar Caucasian rug circa 1970 in as new condition as seen centre in the colour photo. The search continues.....
Photos copyright #9966 Handel Hendrix House © Barrie Wentzell / Snap Galleries
By the late Jack Haldane (Izmidlian): In my time at the P.L.A. (from 1948 onwards) the customs seals were made, as I remember it, of metal thin enough to be malleable, shaped roughly like the figure 8 except in the middle. One half of the seal had a lip all round. The labels were printed on to stout canvas. An stout needle would be threaded with strong twine and then forced through the fabric of the rug or carpet not far from a convenient corner. The loose ends were then tied in a knot and put onto one half of the seal. This would then be folded and the whole squashed together by a tool not unlike a pair of pliers. This would cause the lip to be squashed into the other half of the "8" and made the removal of the label impossible without destroying the seal.
The tickets came as a roll of stout cards, perforated and pre-printed, and with a hole punched them (I don't remember if they had an eyelet round the hole). This, too, would be affixed to the piece using the same stout twine and the same needle. The knot securing this in place was never sealed.
For most goods, the insertion of the needle caused little if any damage to the rug. On fine pieces the effect was certainly noticeable and on really fine items there is no question but that rugs were damaged. After all, how can a steel needle which was probably around 5 mm wide near the tip possibly get between the warps and wefts without there being a bad effect on these ?
When the goods were sent to the washers (Shahinian, Abadjian and possibly others) the washers' staff would staple the customs label to the rug or carpet, but remove and store the card labels. These would be put back on the piece after it was dry and ready to return to the appropriate consignors. These staples would have been of iron or steel, which is why they frequently left rust marks on the Customs label and, not so frequently,on the fabric of the rug of carpet.
I'm pretty sure that items imported before the war (and there were quite a few of these around in the late 1940s and early 1950s) were sealed on the same manner.
The late Jack Haldane 2012 assisted and recorded by Clive Rogers
One of our London West End customers asked us to assist in the supply of carpets to decorate a large pop up tent in Mayfair that will be Covid compliant in the run up to the easing of lockdown on 12th April 2021. Forward planning was essential requiring a clear plan and choice of carpets in colour and size. A very brief working window was allowed for a rapid install working around other contractors. Quality of fixing demanded a high level of security to ensure public safety and liability.
