Restoration

Restoration in rugs covers a wide range of interventions. At one end: structural repair of a fraying edge to prevent further deterioration, legitimate conservation that does not affect the piece's integrity. At the other: re-weaving large areas of worn or missing pile with new wool and dye to make the rug appear undamaged, a form of alteration that affects both condition and value.

"Professionally restored" in rug commerce can mean anything from a careful, minimal re-weave of a small damaged area using period-appropriate materials, to a wholesale reconstruction of a third of the pile in modern synthetic-dyed wool. Tilwen describes any restoration in a piece with specificity: where it is, how extensive, what materials appear to have been used, and how it reads visually.