Restoration and stabilization of old rugs is an art form !

31 Jan 2012 | No Comments | posted by Paul | in Blog, News, Rughunter.us, Rugs

Beauty ! This is a project which just had to be done. I have had this fragmented old Caucasian rug for a long time. It was not until recently that I realized its importance in my life, with the arrival of a much younger Caucasian Moghan rug, which is gorgeous and has fantastic colors and is in exceptional condition for its age but stacked up against the old retainer from more than a century earlier, it doesnt stack up. I’ll reference it by photograph when I eventually list it on my site. What is still astounding to me, is the range of colours available to weavers several 100 years ago, before the advent of aniline dye. They used walnuts, madder root, euphorbia, dye extracted from insects, tabacco leaves, rhubarb leaves and a whole lot more in combinations to produce such startling colour palettes. Aside from that, this rug has stood the test of time, and at this juncture in its life we are prolonging its existence. So what are we doing to it. it is basically being married to a backing cloth of a kind of hemp/hessian which doesn’t mar the rug’s detail. Sympathetically sewn using invisible threads to close the portions which have holes, but only in keeping with this rugs characteristics. let me tell you this is 100′s of hours of restoration, which is no match for the 5-6 months of 10 hours weaving per day to originally create this masterpiece. We hope it will one day win the heart of a true believer in antique beauty from a bygone age.

 

 

Persian, Caucasian a blend or just a unique cultural amalgam.

16 Jan 2012 | No Comments | posted by Paul | in Blog, News, Rughunter.us, Rugs

Karaja Eagle Rug

Its only recently that I discovered that Persian rugs actually interest me. Hitherto now I was of the opinion that yes they could be fine sought after masterpieces, but they didn’t float my boat, as it were, tribal rugs have much more appeal, for their raw energy that they exuded. But, with the acquisition of this piece I have had to re-evaluate my position somewhat. What say ? Well, its complicated, I have always been an “all wool” man, attracted to pieces which are made from just wool, and not cotton foundation and wool compositions as are so many Persian rugs. That is not to say that I misunderstand why cotton is used as a foundation for a carpet, it is a marvelous stabilizing substance, unlike all wool which tends to stretch over time. But, now I can actually see it in this particular rug. The 7-strand cotton warps hold this baby on the straight and narrow. The taughtness of the pile weave is held firmly in check by the cotton and keeps the integrity of this rug, probably more than 100 years old, firmly in check. So, what happened here, why is this rug so similar to an Azeri Caucasian Karabagh Chelaberd rug, also called Sunburst or Eagle motif ? Well, it was made by people who came from the same region, but were displaced. The Russians displaced many of the ethnic Muslim tribes from the central and southern Caucasus during their reign, so many Muslim peoples were moved south into Persia (now Iran) to escape persecution. They settled not far from where they used to reside, however now in Persian Azerbaijan, they brought with them their cultural heritage. And, they assimilated some practices from their new homeland, for instance the use of cotton as a base for a rug. Here is one such result of that cultural amalgam, the same Sunburst main medallion, the same or similar randomly scattered motifs, and a beautiful Dragon Shield border, just as if it were a Caucasian Karabagh Chelaberd rug. Its mesmerizing to find such, and has made me re-assess my almost distain for Persian rugs and carpets. What do you think, let me know.

Fusion – The art of marrying a Rug to a purpose built wall mount.

3 Jan 2012 | No Comments | posted by Paul | in Blog, Fusion, News, Rugs, Technology


So what are we up to, well this is certainly something different, Fusion, the art of taking separate elements and melding them into one harmonious piece, that is what we are up too. This is new in the rug world. We took this small Semi-Antique 20′th century Taimani tribal rug circa. early 1940′s which was woven with 100% natural dyed Ghilzai wool, and mounted it on a custom designed wall mounting made of hardwood with copper, which has been specially worked on to produce a sympathetic patina similar to that of the rug. This small Chahar Aimaq Taimani tribal rug, probably hailed from the west-central plains of Afghanistan, particularly the province of Ghor.The Taimani tribe is noted for its extensive use of blue dyes in their weaving’s. We designed this wall mounting specially for this rug, and had it commissioned by a renowned Portland artist. It has gallery grade mounting hardware and cable to support it upon whichever surface you choose for display.The rug is attached to the wall mount with industrial grade Velcro and secured to the wood part of the wall mount with upholstery nails. This is a piece of artwork which is ready to be displayed in your home or company boardroom. Please check back to our Store often, as we will be listing dozens of similar pieces, this is just one of many, at all different price points. We are the first company to actively market our rugs complete with a designer crafted sympathetic wall mount, we even supply you with the nail, these pieces art are 100% ready to be displayed in pride of place.