Journal

Shortly to open 21 July 2026, we are currently engaging in the working up and provisions of carpet services to the visitor centre at this famous house on the outskirts of London. Termed 'House of Secrets', the house also known as Trent Park House, played an important role in WWII along with Bletchley Park in wartime covert surveillance. It hosted senior German officer prisoners of war, who were eavesdropped upon whilst enjoying the comparative freedoms of the gardens and grounds, with the odd whiskey to get tongues wagging...

Following a discovery of a pair of 1920s Donegal kneeler runners at the local town parish church of St. Laurences in September 2024 work was commissioned to rejuvenate the carpet and brassware on the steps leading leading from the Nave to the Chancel.  The task was tricky as the brassware and fittings were all in a poor state and the carpet was starting to unravel and therefore needed binding not to mention fixings into marble steps !.  The result was splendid and fully deserving of  the not inconsiderable effort for what might otherwise have appeared a straightforward task. 

To our amazement apparently the Natural History Museum offer a commercial pest control service which includes an ‘ Anoxic ‘ treatment. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/services/facilities/quarantine.html Also reliable products for domestic use may be purchased from the company Histrionics https://historyonics.com/ whose principal we understand comes from an academic science background. Also there is a new company ANOXART who specialise in anoxic insect irradiation whose apararatus for their argon method is pictured here.  Also as per in a previous blog we offer free freezing treatment for my own customers https://www.orient-rug.com/blogs/news/clinical-moth-treatment-a-free-service-to-customerts

Having always engaged in film work and now with increased demands connected to the film industry be it with costume or set design in film feature film, terrestrial, network material and or for scale reproduction purposes as seen here . W are now more  frequently obliged to follow ( Non Disclosure Agreements ) or NDAs as the pervasive acronym goes which hinders sharing details of such activities. This is not confined to just film work but increasingly to non-film contract work for important engagements onsite at home and abroad. Regrettably we are now often constrained in our wish to publicise interesting work which we would otherwise liked to have shared.

We take great pleasure in announcing as of October 2024 we have acquired the remaining stock of Ed and Maggie Stott's Oxianna Books originally of Long Ditton Surrey. 
That together with our existing stock of out of print books, maps and literature some of which was acquired along the way from Abingdon Books, The Raymond Benardout Library and that of the late Simon Crosby now makes us the likely leading supplier of out of print books and literature in the field of  Oriental Rug and Carpet studies in the English language.  
During the course of 2024 and 2025  the titles will  be gradually rolled out the titles available via the link .
A portion of this material will not be offered but be held back to augment the working library of our business which is freely available upon appointment and students and researchers.
Clive Rogers Oriental Rugs ( Books )
https://www.orient-rug.com/collections/books

During a visit to the local St. Laurence Church in the Shambles at Stoud Gloucesteshire a pair of runner kneelers were discovered in the Chancel largley forgotten about even to the former Church Warden. The two were made in Co. Donegal just after WWI in what would have been the newley nationalised Killybegs Mill formally owned by the Scottish indiustrialist Alexander Morten and known as the Donegal Carpet Company. The two identical size runners have been woven across what would have been the width of a very wide loom and cut down to two equal sized pieces converse to what might have been be assumed across the narrow width. According to the label the pair were obtained as the result of a commission via the furnishing store J.H. Wilkes of King Street Stroud ( town centre )1908 - 1930. Being on the supply list to the National Churches Trust we are now engaged to bring about some minor restorations and clean the runners which by the looks of things has not been done for one hundred years. When returned it is likly they will be replaced to the alter step with non slip underlay.

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 is a Tudor-Jacobean house in West Yorkshire with grounds landscaped by Capability Brown. The house is one of Leeds Museums and Galleries sites. In 1920s, the entire house contents were sold off and very recently some parts of the Wilton stair carpeting from 1870s has been returned back to the house. However, some 10 metres is missing and we are privilaged  at being asked to making faithful handmade 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.