The form of the structure evokes the appearance of a weaving loom. The design of the exterior walls is said to shade the windows, lowering the museum's interior temperature for the benefit of visitors and the antique rugs on display. Unfortunately, the museum does not seem to have its own website...
You may have heard that bamboo silk rugs are hard to clean. Bamboo silk is a lustrous fiber that is spun from the processed cellulose of the bamboo plant. Bamboo is a fast growing grass, so it is rapidly renewable, and the yarn made from bamboo is soft and silky, yet it is significantly less...
When a rug gets sun-faded, it's usually just superficial. Shearing the face of the rug reveals the original color below the millimeters of faded wool.
One of our customers requested that we turn remnants of machine-made carpeting that they owned into a custom rug of an unusual shape: an oblong octagon.
Recently, I visited the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. I was so inspired by the experience of seeing carpets from the “Golden Age” of weaving (16th and 17th Century) on display that I wanted to put together some information about the museum and its collection for the benefit of our...
Over the last few years exciting news has been plentiful in the realm of rare and antique carpet auctions: June 2008: The Doris Duke Silk Isfahan set a record when it sold for $4.45 million March 2009: The Pearl Carpet of Baroda set a new record when it sold for $5.46 million April 2010: The...
A couple of months ago, we wrote about the impact that the rising cost of labor and the changing demand for rugs has had on rug prices. Additionally, material costs that started to creep higher and higher during the latter portion of the U.S. recession and have continued to rise into the start of...
As early as 2006, when he visited approximately 30 hand-weaving factories in Shandong Province, China, Job observed that many of these factories were already in the process of closing, because employment rates were rising so high that people could find better paying work elsewhere. Shandong...
Production of handmade rugs for export has continued to decline. We recently saw an e-mail sent by a manager of weavers in India to a supplier in the U.S. He wrote: “In present conditions, our weavers are not working as before. They had kept carpet manufacturing in last priority as they had many...
On June 3rd, 2008, a Persian silk Isfahan from the personal collection of Doris Duke, a tobacco heiress turned philanthropist and the Newport Restoration Foundation that she created in 1968 sold at Christie’s auction for 4.45 million dollars. The rug, dating back to the early 1600s, is 7’5” x...
Thriving financial and real estate markets provide the backbone to a flourishing rug market. New home building or the selling and remodeling of existing homes will precede most home decorating projects. A down economy, resulting in reduced consumer demand, has had wide reaching impact on the...
This spring another antique oriental rug was written into the history books as the most expensive ever sold – this will be the third record-breaking auction in as many years.
We have a room-sized Persian Hamadan rug 8’ 8” x 12’ 0” in the showroom. The design and color are unusual for a Hamadan. The field is a deep sky blue with an all-over repeating pattern in vibrant aqua, golden brown, and orange-red. The motifs are bold and stylized, residing somewhere between...
Home décor, like fashion, has its trends. And the current trend toward rugs and carpets made from renewable fibers like bamboo and hemp has blown up on the pages of trade magazines. If you Google the term “renewable resource,” you may find the following definition: “A resource that can renew or...
In February 18, 2009, Forbes magazine wrote that the rug could set a new record at auction, “[fetching] as much as $20 million.” The quote was attributed to Sotheby’s Henry Howard-Sneyd, Deputy Chairman for Europe and Asia and International Director of New Markets. This lavish rug, “The Pearl...