Oriental Rug Repair & Persian Carpet Cleaning Services
We are proud to offer services that are some of the best in London, such as cleaning, restoration, and repair.
Oriental carpet restoration and repair
Sharafi & Co is particularly proud of the reputation that our oriental rug restoration team has gained since 1990. We work with a team skilled in all facets of our ancient trade and with an open eye towards the most up-to-date technology.
We are at your service, be it for a small valued household oriental rug or Persian tribal Kilim that needs a simple wash or the repair of a rare precious antique Persian carpet.
You are welcome to make an appointment to see our restorers at work and to observe why our clients trust us with their most treasured antique Persian carpets and challenging projects.
We know that our reputation comes from offering competitive rates for quality work and a consistent, dedicated attitude to our client’s needs. Be this repair work for a London store or restoration of an antique Persian carpet for a museum or even cleaning a cherished household oriental rug.
Our professional team is able can carry out anything from slight repairs of modern rugs or even intricate weaving and re-creations of missing areas in an antique piece; all services are carried out on our premises under expert supervision.
We perform restoration work on all different types of carpets and rugs
- Oriental rug restoration
- Antique rug restoration
- Persian rug restoration
We are rug cleaning specialists, able to safely clean your investment and return to you in optimum condition
- Wool rug cleaning
- Antique rug cleaning
- Persian carpet cleaning
- New Oriental carpet cleaning
- Fine rug cleaning
- Cleaning silk rugs
- Cleaning Kilim rugs
- Area rug cleaning services
And any other rug cleaning services that you may require
Our competitive rug cleaning prices start from £25 per square meter.
A cautionary tale: WHAT NOT TO DO with your antique Persian rug
Britain has, for centuries, been one of the most important markets for Persian merchants. I can confidently say that today some of the rarest Persian antiquities are housed in this country. From the exquisite 16th-century Persian Rugs at Hampton Court Palace to the priceless Ardabil Carpet (one of the most famous pieces in the world) exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum. William Morris, then an art referee at the V&A, considered it one of the museum’s most significant acquisitions. He had lobbied fervently for its purchase that had included a national campaign to raise funds.
Imports of Persian rugs to Britain soared during and after the Industrial Revolution as the new rich wanted the sort of rugs that the old moneyed had possessed for hundreds of years. These especially commissioned British imports were commonly the highest quality that Persian producers could offer and today are amongst the most valuable and desirable pieces in the world. April (2010), exactly such a rug, a Kerman rug unseen for half a century, fetched £6.2m at Christie’s London sale.
Despite such a rich history, most British customers remain uninformed about Persian rugs. Last January, I walked into the warehouse to find Our restoration team gathered in an almost stunned silence around a piece that had come in for a wash. Our client, a lady in Cheshire had inherited it from a great-aunt. She had tried to wash it and, in the process, had bleached two large patches in one corner.
Imports of Persian rugs to Britain soared during and after the Industrial Revolution
I soon had to break the news to the customer that she had defaced a rare — yet distinctive– piece worth tens of thousands of pounds that were specially commissioned and imported by the Manchester-based German company Ziegler over a hundred years ago.
There is no subtle way of putting it. Such an error is unthinkable around European countries such as France, Italy, Germany, or Switzerland. The average British consumers’ inability to tell the difference between a quality Persian rug that will last generations and a cheap disposable copy is no different from the inability to distinguish between an Aston Martin and Škoda.
For what it’s worth, we were able to restore the Ziegler rug by recreating the same natural dyes and reweaving an entire corner of the piece. I wish I could say that this was an isolated incident. It was the worst mishap that I have come across, but it is in no way isolated.
So if you have a Persian rug that has been in the family for generations it is very likely to be a valuable piece. So please get it valued. Take it to a reputable local oriental rug dealer, failing that most auction houses around the country will have experts at hand that could tell you more. These days most will also give you a tentative idea of what you have with an emailed photo. Then learn about it and learn to look after it, and it will most probably serve you for generations to come.
