Our Blog

2025 Annual Rug Sale

2025 Annual Rug Sale

Here are some images for our clients to enjoy from the 2025 Annual Rug Sale. With special thanks to all who came out for this year's sale and lunch. Photos by our staff photographer John Bonath and guest photographer Casey Bonath.   Next year will be our 26th annual rug sale. We hope you can join us!  

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Meet Our Photographer JOHN BONATH

Meet Our Photographer JOHN BONATH

John Bonath has been working with Robert Mann Rugs for over thirty years. You may have seen his photography and design work on the Robert Mann Rugs website, the Restoration Yarns website , or the Antique Textile Conservation website . His images appear in our social media campaigns and have represented the company in three decades of postcards.  John has created the branding look of Robert Mann Rugs, setting our image apart from others in the field. John's working relationship with RMR has...

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2024 Annual Rug Sale

2024 Annual Rug Sale

We'd like to thank everyone that came out for our Annual Rug Sale this year. It was a great success, and a good time was had by all. Our photographer, John Bonath, gathered some pictures to capture the event and share.  

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Dye Workshop

Dye Workshop

taught and hosted by Robert Mann Rugs sponsored by Master Rug Cleaner, The Gold Standard in Training & Certification for Rug Cleaning Professionals Recently Robert Mann hosted and taught a comprehensive hands-on training workshop in the processes of dyeing wool yarns for restoration, using natural dyes and synthetic dye systems to match restoration yarn colors. The workshop was geared for rug restoration staff wanting to develop an inventory of colors and yarns that are not available in...

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2023 Annual Rug Sale

2023 Annual Rug Sale

Thank you to everyone who came out to make our annual rug sale for the year a great success.  As usual it was a good time had by all with some great food and great deals on rugs. Here are some pictures to share with everyone from this year's sale taken by our photographer, John Bonath. Another great lunch of Southwestern cooking from our very own Charlotte and friends. Our rug sale is always a family friendly place to hang out for children of all ages. See you all again next year!  ...

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The Nura Tapestry

The Nura Tapestry

Intro by Robert Mann One day about twenty-five years ago, a local carpet dealer named Lew Bobrick walked into my shop with a small French tapestry.  It was terribly soiled and loosely tacked to a wooden frame with rusting nails.  He said, “this was designed by an artist from Kansas City named NURA.  Her signature is right here in the corner.”  I found it to be so charming that I bought it on the spot knowing nothing about a woman going by the name of NURA.  Modern pictorial tapestries from the...

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An Interview with Ahmet Opcin

An Interview with
Ahmet Opcin

This is Ahmet’s sixth trip to the US over the last 20 years.  During his recent visit he met with customers and friends and spent time at Mann Rugs in conjunction with the ARCS 2022 Rug-A-Polooza conference. It was a good time to catch him for a blog interview.   Growing up in Istanbul, Turkey, with his four brothers and three sisters, Ahmet often went to the “Grand Bazaar”.  This famous attraction is one of the world’s oldest covered markets as  well as the oldest building in Istanbul. ...

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2022 Annual Rug Sale

2022 Annual Rug Sale

December 3rd, 2022 This year’s annual rug sale at Robert Mann Rugs was a great day for those attending to ruffle through many beautiful rugs, tapestries and odd fabric items from all times and places and sit down to a delicious home-cooked lunch.  No one ever knows what they will run across as they browse through rooms piled full of handwoven eye candy.  It is a highly social time, sharing the fun and meeting new people or running across old friends.  The excitement of purchasing a new visual...

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ARCS 2022 Rug-A-Palooza Conference

ARCS 2022 Rug-A-Palooza Conference

November 3rd, 4th & 5th, 2022 Let the Conference Begin! On the first day of the conference four speakers presented stories from their lives in the rug industry. Dr. Ted Mast Ted’s passion for rugs began as something of an unexpected epiphany.  He finished his B.A. in Art and Art History at Metropolitan State College in 1976 and had always taken notice of certain antique oriental rugs.  In 1979, he was dealing and restoring antiques while pursuing writing when one late afternoon on a cold...

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Perry Pearce  Needlepoint Artisan

Perry Pearce
Needlepoint Artisan

Perry Pearce’s pop-up studio might appear in his living room one day and his sun-room the next.  Such is the advantage of a portable loom.  But do not be fooled by his small working space, the cubic space he occupies is filled with a very dense with concentrated work energy.  On a productive day, he might finish four square inches of needlepoint, that’s 144 stitches per square inch.  On the average, a 32”x 40” needlepoint usually takes him about a year and a half to complete. Forty years ago,...

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Restoring Navajo Blankets in Turkey

Restoring Navajo Blankets in Turkey

Does sending a mid-1800’s Navajo wearing blanket all the way to Western Turkey for restoration sound odd?  At one time, It was a strange idea - but not anymore.  Textile restoration is skilled hand work. It requires the right materials and a technical understanding of the weaving being restored in terms of structure, fiber, materials and dyes. Good results are a collaboration of connoisseur-ship and technical expertise that embody a knowledge of the weaving and an understanding of the owners...

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RMR Rug Repair Workshop 2022

RMR Rug Repair Workshop 2022

2022 rug repair participants with Robert Mann, Tanya Prochaska, Quinn Holt, Marife Hagebusch, Susan Brummett & Mosen Eadelati.   In July of 2022, Robert Mann Rugs Inc. hosted a three-day immersive workshop in rug repair and restoration.  The workshop was taught by Robert Mann and co-sponsored by Master Rug Cleaners of Dallas, Texas.  The course was held in Denver, Colorado at Robert Mann Rugs state-of-the-art cleaning and restoration facility.  Five students attended from companies...

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Robert Mann | Textile Expert

Robert Mann | Textile Expert

Join Robert Mann, co-founder of Restoration Yarns and Robert Mann Rugs, for a discussion of key questions around the restoration of rugs and carpets in conjunction with The George Washington University Museum.   When: Sat, January 29, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. EST   |   Where: Virtual   |  REGISTER HERE   Rug and Textile Appreciation Morning: Restoring Rugs and Carpets Rugs lead tough lives, and the wear and tear of daily use can take its toll. A textile collector’s long-sought weaving...

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A VISIT TO TURKEY

A VISIT TO TURKEY

Recently I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Izmir, Turkey at the Antique Textile Conservation’s workshop.  We reviewed textiles we had sent them to work on. That visit was followed by two weeks of touring with a group of American rug cleaners. It was a memorable trip. As a foreign visitor it becomes apparent that widely held assumptions about Turkey are not supported by the reality of this place and first-hand experience. The country is safe and the people you meet are dignified and...

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The Shared Visions Project

The Shared Visions Project

You might remember a card we mailed out awhile back using this art by John Bonath.  He created the imagery from special hand-spun Iranian yarn that we use for our rug restoration.  John is part of our family here at RMR. He has done our photography and design for the last 26 years.  His work abounds on our website.  I’d like to take a moment to promote this art and the Shared Visions Project. - Robert Mann     Synapse We are perhaps like neurons that never touch— but that doesn’t...

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2018 Conference

2018 Conference

The middle of October found us hosting a Rug Washing industry conference at our newly built facility in Denver. Over 150 industry colleagues came to visit, take classes, hear lectures and wash a lot of rugs. It was jointly sponsored by ARCS - The Association of Rug Care Specialists - and Centrum Force, the premier manufacturer of rug plant equipment.  The event was a resounding success. We are grateful to all who made the trip to be together and enthusiastically  share their expertise and...

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Robert Mann Restoration Yarns

Robert Mann Restoration Yarns

We have a lot of experience preparing materials for rug restoration. It’s always been difficult to find the right materials.  From the beginning it was clear that spinning, re-spinning, and custom dying was the only way to get it right to do the job. There is a hard truth in rug restoration. No matter what your skills are, the end result won’t look good unless your yarns match. There are many variables such as spin, yarn size, the size and texture of the individual wool fibers. Robert Mann...

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Rug Pads

Rug Pads

You don’t have to have pads under your rugs. But it’s better if you do. Pads extend the life of your rug, hold them in place and make your rugs much more comfortable to walk on. The best pads are made from entirely recycled materials, have little or no odor, and hold your rug in place. We are very excited about a new product we are offering called ‘Eco Supreme’. Skeptical at first, we got a few rolls of Eco Supreme and began testing it on our shop floors and in our homes.  It worked great. Eco...

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WE DID IT!

WE DID IT!

It’s true what they say about moving - you never realize how much stuff you’ve got till you do. We’ve been in the new location for a little over two weeks now.  All our primary systems are up and running. We are washing and drying rugs, repairing rugs, answering the phone and typing invoices. But it’s still much like camping out.  Complications with the local permitting officials cost us two weeks of production, so everyone is running overtime to catch up. It is all working, but leaves no...

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New Move on the Horizon

New Move on the Horizon

After forty years, and a few previous moves, we are moving again. We plan to shut down wash operations at our old location starting July 23 and, with luck, be up and running at our new place no more than a week later.  Our official opening date for the new shop is August 1st. The new building is located at 2151 West 56th Avenue, Denver, 80221.  It is just South of I-76 on 56th, midway between Pecos  Street and Federal Boulevard.  It is a great location and a wonderful building.  It has been...

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