Reconstructing Axminster Carpets - Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery

Join Gary Bridge, Design and Innovation Director at Axminster Carpets for a fascinating presentation on the challenges faced in designing, copying and manufacturing historic and reproduction carpets. This entails re-writing the rule book in design and manufacturing.

Through the advent of computers and improvements in manufacturing, the world has come to expect perfect goods. In carpet terms, this is perfect art work all mirrored and balanced; a smooth surface, dyes with no linearity and one that is clean and fresh in appearance. Prior to this, carpets and rugs were hand drawn, wool dyed with fruits and berries, woven using hand knotted techniques or using basic shuttle looms and finished with scissors to create a pile. In historic houses, when recreating a rug, you should walk into the room and not notice a new carpet. This is the total opposite when designing and manufacturing commercial/hotel carpets.

The presentation will focus on why Axminster is renowned for replacing historic carpets around the world and especially in the UK. Whilst we are Royal Warrant Holders, Axminster have carpeted many prestigious buildings including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Brighton Pavilion.