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by John Stockwell, Managing Director of Stockwell
Carpets Limited
About twenty men are needed to carry the huge bale of carpet. “Watch
out for that wall!” The room has been lavishly decorated, and they
carry it carefully through the French windows into the room, making
sure no damage is done to the furnishings, and position it on the
floor before it is rolled out.
When it is unrolled by a team of expert fitters, they see the
magnificent colours – how the pattern has been designed precisely
and exclusively for this one room. The centre of the medallion lines
up with the centre of the chandelier and the border is designed to
go around the fireplace with the border motifs perfectly placed,
returning at the centre of the carpet.
The colours harmonise with the rest of the furnishings. The deep
pile whispers luxury.
They position the carpet perfectly on the heavy felt underlay,
getting air under it to help move it, and then work meticulously to
install it, stretching it tight with knee kickers and cutting it to
shape.
This is the end of a very long process; a process which, in one way
or another, has been carried out for centuries and which is one of
the most rewarding furnishing experiences – the commissioning of a
carpet made to special order.
Carpet weaving is one of the oldest forms of decorative textile
manufacture, and one which has become painstakingly studied. Just
delve into a copy of ‘Hali’ magazine and you will have a glimpse of
the scholarly academic, almost obsessive, interest in old carpets
and rugs, made by tribes, often nomadic (where did this piece come
from? what influences created that pattern?) and used for
wall-coverings, tent hangings, floor coverings and table coverings
(as shown in so many ‘Old Master’ paintings).
My own interest has mostly been with European carpets and rugs, and
the ability to recreate these, or to create something entirely
original, often inspired by old or even new works, the
re-arrangement of traditional motifs, or creating something totally
abstract, using modern influences.
The first of these splendid carpets to be of interest to me were
those commissioned and woven in France for the Royal Court – the
Savonnerie carpets – named after the former soap (‘savon’) factory
where they were first produced, and the beautiful strongly coloured
‘tapestry weave’ carpets produced in the town of Aubusson, which
bear its name.
In England, hand-made carpet weaving started in earnest when a
Thomas Whitty managed to spy on a small factory established by a
Frenchman – Monsieur Parisot, in Fulham, using some French weavers
he had almost smuggled into England (let us say they could not
return to France!).
Whitty went to the local ale house, sat where he could overhear
conversations, befriended the father of one of the apprentices
working for Parisot, and thereby gained entry to the factory.
All he needed was a day, as he had been looking at Turkish carpets
in some detail and had already tried to create a small piece on his
own.
Thomas Whitty established his factory in Axminster, so the first
true ‘Axminster Carpets’ were these hand-knotted ones. Just to
confuse matters further, this factory was eventually moved to
Wilton, where it became known as the Wilton Royal Carpet factory. It
ceased trading in hand-made carpets in 1957.
A museum dedicated to these famous old carpets is still there, and
with some interesting archives, although, sadly, a lot of were
dispersed in 1957.
Up until this point the hand-knotted carpets available in the United
Kingdom tended to be imported ‘Turkey carpets’: Those you would see
as table decorations in, say, a painting by Holbein.
It was Whitty who manufactured some of the best known English
designed carpets created by such brilliant designers as Robert Adam
and his contemporaries. These were made originally in extremely
strong colours in designs that complemented all the other
decorations.
Adam was known for reflecting the design of his ceilings in his
carpet designs; however, you will notice that he never copied the
ceiling precisely, but produced a design that reflected some
elements and harmonised perfectly with it.
There is something very masculine about most of Adam’s designs,
which seems to make them less commercial than the more feminine
Savonnerie and Aubusson designs.
Special carpets were created by Adam for stately homes and mansions.
Many carpets were also produced for Adam by Thomas Moore, who was
more expensive than Whitty, but a close friend. Whitty used female
labour to get a competitive edge, and the first ladies he used were
his family – wife and daughters!
Thomas Whitty made the original carpets for The Royal Pavilion at
Brighton. The Music Room carpet was made in a strong blue background
colour with fantastical beasts and stars floating on it. Queen
Victoria had the carpet removed, bleached and cut up to use in a
guest room in Buckingham Palace, as she considered it extremely
decadent.
As well as the English and French production there were a number of
active factories in Europe – in Spain, Germany and Austria. The
Gynskey factory almost disappeared after the Second World War, as a
change of borders brought it into what was then Czechoslovakia. The
factory was considered to be a symbol of capitalistic decadence, and
sadly many records were destroyed.
A factory which became active in the early part of the twentieth
century was The Donegal Carpet Company in the north of Eire. The
weaving tradition here was thought to have been a by-product of the
wreckage of the Spanish Armada – some galleons foundered on the
rocks off the Donegal coast and the Spanish influence is believed to
have started much of the interest in textiles here.
The looms, cropping machine and many design archives from the Wilton
Royal factory found their way to Donegal when Wilton Royal closed
their hand-knotted production in 1957.
Donegal Carpets got into some difficulties towards the end of the
last century and closed down their famous factory, with only a small
craft weaving unit remaining.
Thus a considerable number of hand-knotted carpets were created to
special order through many important designers, some of whom have
become bookmarks in the history of carpet design: Adam, Wyatt,
Voysey, Mackintosh, William Morris, Marion Dorn and the beautiful
Art Deco carpets commissioned for this strong style.
Stunning carpets were designed for ocean-going liners, cinemas,
clubs, livery halls and corporate head offices.
Today, we have carpets created for palaces, superyachts (and what
are now defined as Megayachts!), villas, mansions (with carpets
tailored for winding staircases, border designs being adjusted for
each stair), penthouses and modern offices, homes for the
discerning, and re-creations of old pieces that have worn out. We
have carpets for our embassies and government buildings, for private
aircraft and even for cars.
Most of the modern hand-made carpets that are designed to special
order today are made by the hand-tufting process. This would appear
to have originated as a modification of ‘hooked rugs’ often made by
families for their own use, in the USA, in the early part of the
last century.
Ways of speeding up the process were devised, and developed into the
more sophisticated tufting gun which is the woollen paintbrush to
the ‘paint it by numbers’ tensioned canvas over a tufting frame at
the factory.
These hand-tufted carpets are manufactured all over the world – a
natural development from the ‘hooked rugs’ created in a number of
factories in the USA, one of which was manufactured in Puerto Rico
and then expanded into Eire. A number of the earlier factories
spawned competitors – this is also true of some larger factories in
the Far East, established initially to give work to Chinese in the
Hong Kong New Territories, then expanding into Philippines,
Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. There are a number of small
factories in Europe, and several larger ones in China and India.
I do not attach a great deal of importance to where a factory is
located; the quality produced by all these factories varies
substantially, with some mediocre product coming out of European
‘ateliers’ and some top quality ones coming out of Eastern
factories. The ability of the manager and his team to carry out the
instructions given to him, and an ability to ensure that the best
possible materials are used, is the main factor in creating a
quality product from the artwork provided.
I personally consider the quality of artwork and draughtsmanship to
be one of the most important contributions to a hand-made carpet or
rug. But sadly there are a great deal of mediocre products created
for this market place that disguise badly drawn motifs by use of
subtle colourings.
It is the quality of draughtsmanship that makes a museum piece in
any decorative art form, and in my own studio we even draw the whole
carpet design out prior to manufacture (which is what they did at
the original Savonnerie factory) to ensure the designer’s ‘hand’ is
reproduced faithfully in the finished work.
Carpets today can often be made with many different types of natural
yarn – wool, silk, cotton and even linen. Some of these are more
resilient than others, so it is worth checking how they will wear or
flatten down.
It is important to look closely at the ‘feel’ of the quality (yarns
vary considerably and can be blends of New Zealand, the most widely
accepted yarn, and local ones). Also one must look at the way
designs are reproduced. Do they flow correctly or are they crude and
clumsy?
It is important to look around, and often best not to choose the
least expensive. But when you do decide to commission a carpet or
rug, you are starting on an exciting and thoroughly rewarding
adventure culminating in enjoyment for years and years.
Contact John Stockwell in London or Kent Borner in Connecticut.
Stockwell Carpets Ltd, 81 York Street, London W1H 1QH
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7224 8380
Fax: +44 (0)20 7224 8381
Stockwell Carpets (USA) Ltd, 26 Krug Road, Preston, Connecticut,
06365 USA
Telephone: + 1 860 889 2880
E-mail:
stockwellcarpets@aol.com
www.stockwellcarpets.com |