Rug Types
Antique Rugs
Generally taken to mean eighty years and older. Age is not a style — it is a set of material conditions that changes what can safely be done.
Identification
How to tell
Softened, unevenly faded colour, wool with a distinct sheen from decades of use, and often old repairs from several different hands. The back usually shows more history than the front.
Method
How we clean antique rugs
Assessment comes before anything else: fibre strength, foundation condition, dye stability and previous repairs are all recorded, and the wash is designed around whatever is weakest. Some are stabilised before washing. Some should not be immersed at all, and we say so.
Common Damage
What goes wrong
Dry rot from long storage in damp conditions, and earlier restoration done with modern synthetic yarn that has aged badly against the original wool.