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.
