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 across the country. The focus of the workshop was on practical rug repair and restoration skills for use in retail rug stores and rug wash plants. It is one of few courses where one can learn rug restoration skills.
Robert Mann is an expert cleaner, restorer, and appraiser of antique rugs and textiles. After traveling in rug producing countries Robert took a job in 1978 working as an apprentice to an Iranian restorer named Hamid Sharifzadeh. Robert has worked in the field since and in 1982, opened his first rug cleaning plant in Denver, Colorado. Today Robert is a hands-on owner operator, managing a staff of 18 employees in his 24,000 square foot facility in Denver. Robert cleans and restores rugs every day.
The ‘Essential Rug Repair’ class is designed for those working in the rug cleaning business, retail stores and anyone seriously interested in learning this age-old niche craft. Limited to six students per class, intensive hands-on workshops introduce basic repair skills to the novice and refine the skills of the experienced or intermediate rug repair specialist. Students learn practical skills and less commonly known “tricks of the trade” that can be put to immediate use in their business to generate additional income.
Tanya Prochaska
Tanya works with rug repair for Imperial Rug Cleaning of Longmont, Colorado. She took the workshop to study techniques related to rug repair in general. She has enjoyed discovering new methods to sew rug ends which are stronger and easier compared to the strategies she has been using. She comments that with the way this workshop is set up, when you make a mistake, you are able to understand the nature of your mistake and grow from it.
Quinn Holt
Quinn entered the world of rug repair after studying rug design as a fibers major at Savannah College of Art and Design in Wilmington, Delaware. As such, her experience translates well into rug restoration. Side cording and attaching fringes securely from unraveling is all new for her. She works for New Moon Rugs in Wilmington, Delaware. Her business works with Western designs and also antique rugs that are always in need of repair. New Moon’s knotted rug designs are produced in Nepal and their high/low piles and flat weaves are produced in India.
Mosen Eadelati
Mosen works in marketing for Bensen Interprize and its subsidiary Bensen Rugs in Seattle, Washington. He has always had a personal interest in experiencing rug repair head on. He is familiar with the language of rug repair but desires a hands-on experience so his words are based in first-hand experience and understanding. Rugs have been in his life from a very early age. His family has a rug business in his homeland of Iran and when Mosen was in his twenties, he used to travel from village to village in search of rugs for his family to sell. With this workshop he hopes to understand the structure of rugs in order to communicate to his customers better.
Marife Hagebusch
Marife is from Leander, Texas, where her husband runs Peace Frog Specialty Cleaning, serving the Austin, Texas area. For the past 11 years, Peace Frog Specialty Cleaning has offered carpet, tile, upholstery and floor cleaning. This year, they opened a new rug cleaning facility which integrates oriental rug repair as well. She is learning about rug repair to help in this line of work. For her, this is a totally new skill set. Marife is very detail oriented and has what it takes to do well with the techniques taught in the workshop. She finds everything she is learning in the workshop to be interesting and finds much beauty in rug work.
Susan Brummett
Susan comes from Lawrence, Kansas where she and her husband run Basic Carpet Care & Rug Joy. Her husband has been bugging her for years to come to one of Bob’s workshops. She tells me she is learning some amazing techniques, including finishing rug ends, in ways she has never seen or heard of before and learning the reasoning behind it all. Susan is also a teacher and appreciates the manner in which Bob teaches his workshops with so much hands on learning and review. In such an intimate class, getting to know all the other participants has also been an incredibly rich experience of community.
Workshops are taught annually at RMR, Denver. These workshops are promoted through Master Rug Cleaners and announced to our mailing list. If you would like to get on our mailing list please “subscribe” through our website or use this link. We occasionally send out interesting and relevant blogs to our list and you can “unsubscribe” at any time.
Next Blog Coming Up
In 1990, Robert was invited to help establish Woven Legends Restoration, located in the Aegean Free Trade Zone in Izmir Turkey. The plan was to offer out-source restoration services to clients all over the world. Operating today as Antique Textile Conservation (ATC ), the facility specializes in the restoration of handwoven carpets, tapestries, and weavings of the American Southwest. Robert Mann Rugs continues as the sole ATC representative in the US and is able to provide information and cost quotes for restoration of all sorts.
The day after this workshop, Bob flew to Turkey to spend time with our sister company there. Stay tuned for our next blog in which we will share pictures and Bob’s experiences with his most recent visit to Turkey!
