Journal

Having searched Central Asia for a likely partner to produce silk rugs we have settled on working with  Turquoise Mountain a charitable endeavour set up in 2006 by HRH Prince of Wales ( as was then ) Rory Stewart and others to promote areas of traditional crafts in counries including Afghanistan. We will also be running a parralel trials in Turkey with our more usual producers.

A talk will be given illustrating our work with Turkish bespoke carpets made from natural dyes and hand-spun wool. The House Directory Live is hosted by the main event Battersea Decorative Fair on the mezzanine floor, where we also have a stand M03 for the duration of the fair (7-12 May). The talk will focus on the processes of commission, design, dying, weaving and final project installation.

Temple Newsam (historically Temple Newsham), is a Tudor-Jacobean house in West Yorkshire with grounds landscaped by Capability Brown. The house is one of nine Leeds Museums and Galleries sites. In 1920s, the entire house contents were sold off and very recently some of the Wilton / Kidderminster stair carpeting from 1870s has been reunited back to the house. However, some 10metres is missing and we are investigating making faithful replicas in Turkey.

The ORU SPACE project to repurpose a disused department store in Surrey, (England), successfully and cleverly recycled otherwise discarded pieces of old antique Turkey carpets as banquettes. The supply of such material old or new is a facet of our business, in that we are occasionally requested to supply upholstery material, particularly in commercial premises where a robust solution is called for. Another similar project but not with Joanne, was done for Barter Books in Alnwick, Northumberland using flatweave kilims.

Working with the Handel and Hendrix Museum continues into 2024. A request has been made to provide two floor-coverings in keeping with the period second quarter 18th cent to reflect Handel's time spent at the Brook Street address.  Making a new carpet to match the stye of the period seemed awkward and has difficulties to reflect the style of the time and was not considered as 'right' on two counts. Firstly a new carpet would  look out of place in context to the period instruments and ‘ lived in ‘ furniture , Secondly - cost.  Instead it was agreed to supply something old and non-specific since this was a time of changing fashions and exotic carpets were still uncommon particularly oriental carpets. Carpets were considered too precious for utility use on town house floors as evidenced by paintings of the period as seen used on tables. Trade with India was developing but the Saffavid Empire in Persia had just collapsed although Britain at the time maintained a commercial connection with Isphahan. Britain's Turkey Company was very active at the time in association with and protected by the Genoese but still bothered by the French in the Mediterranean until Nelson finally cleared them out in 1798. Part of the brief is that Handel would entertain friends and clients in the ' dining room ' space and so that room needed to be easily cleared for action or not depending on acoustic sensitivities as a working space. With the early emerging Industrial Revolution Loop-pile Brussels and cut-velvet Wilton carpets began to be made in 1740 and might have featured in the later part of Handels time in Brook Street as locally sourced products.

A lifetime’s experience with antique carpets has guided the making of bespoke handmade carpets to individual requirements — be it straight replicas, moderated antique designs or entirely new concepts. The work also includes installation fit-outs with staircases being a speciality. Most weaving is done in Turkey using sustainable materials, natural dyes, hand spun wool and non-exploitative labour.

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:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSjV-I2fNtgvr3e_xow6IqdkVZdiiXMHH4eyDPWBFBEF8epd6lvqR1GW-2Yb89O5TSV7fNFVCRO02RE/pub

Having been chosen to restore a huge Sultanabad Ziegler carpet (see below), 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.

Indeed a very great privilege for the request to oversee the well being and active curation of what is probably the largest William Morris carpet in extent. The management of a carpet of an approx 75 sq. mt which weighs in at an excess of 600 kilos is a considerable logistical undertaking requiring a team eight to  just move it to another location.

The carpet was originally woven at William Morris & Co's Mersham Abbey workshop in the second half of the 1880s for the Wyndham family at Clouds House designed by Philip Webb who also did the Red House for William Morris himself. In the 1920s the Wyndham family had a house dispersal sale and the present owners grandfather ( a contemporary and friend 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 and 2022 with  a complete washing offsite and conservation. Presentaly in 2023 additional conservation and the replacement of some old restorationr is underway toward the carpet being returned to Gloucestershire in the Autumn

Recently we have been selected with the care of a highly important 20th century collection of modernist carpets. In the course of our investigative work we discovered pressure damage which had occurred in relation to use with heavy furniture. On further inspection it was found the wool in several of the collection to be made of stands of 20 μm (micron) diameter stands than wool found typically a standard carpet and oriental carpet wool of approx 30μm exacerbating difficulties of pressure marks since thicker tougher wool strands normally used in carpets are hardier and more resistant. That said it should be noted that wool cannot be crushed permanently and eventually with the correct non invasive treatment wool will revert back unlike fibres in some textiles.

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