We visited a client last month in London who have three old oriental rugs that have been in the family for years. They have a Pakistani Bokhara rug, a Persian Hamadan rug and an Afghan tribal rug, all hand made with wool pile on cotton warp and weft.
The rugs were very dirty indeed as they had not had a specialist hand cleaning in many years. The patterns and colours were barely visible and the fringes on all ends were frayed and worn away down to the wool. Had they not been of sentimental value, the client says they would have been thrown out!
We returned all three to our London workshops and after a dust extraction, we gave them all a light clean to check for stains or moth damage etc. There were no noticeable marks, so they did not warrant a spot clean and we moth treated them for precution. After a final hand clean and being allowed to dry naturally, the rugs came up like new, with brilliant colour definition and the wools soft to the touch. The natural lustre and shine within the wool was rejuvenated and they glistened in the sunlight.
We created a small fringe from the foundation of each rug and secured it with traditional knots to stop the rugs from losing wool off the fringed ends.
We called the client during the process to keep them updated of the progress and to confirm, as we said on collection, that they were worth looking after.
On their return, the client could not believe that they were the same rugs they had given us just a few. The colours were vibrant, the repairs to the fringes had been dont and the rugs were once again solid, secure and usable.
They admitted that they had considered throwing them out because they looked ”beyond repair”. What a waste of three beautiful rugs this would have been, if that had been the case. We are always delighted to bring family treasures back to life!
The client asked me to come out to the outhouse where they had another, this time quite large, handmade oriental rug which was in need of some real TLC. Again they admitted they had held onto the rug as they felt bad to throw it out – and great thing they did!
Needless to say this is now in our London rug repair workshops and will be professionally looked after as the other three were.
Moral of the story. ”Nothing is beyond repair”.
Get in touch now to discuss your rug.