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RESTORATION BY COSTIKYAN™
RESTORES LAVER KIRMAN CARPET AT HEARST CASTLE
Restoration by Costikyan™, the leading company in the care, restoration and cleaning of fine rugs and tapestries since it’s founding in 1886, has just completed the restoration of an antique Laver Kirman carpet from the collection of Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California.
The association between William Randolph Hearst Sr. and S. Kent Costikyan has its roots in the turn of the 20th century. The Hearst-Costikyan relationship continued over the years between William R. Hearst Jr. and Clarke W. Costikyan. What is of historic interest is that S. Kent was a guest at the formal opening of San Simeon and Clarke was the carpet appraiser when the Hearst family gifted San Simeon and its collection to the state of California.
Hoyt Fields, the present Executive Director of Hearst Castle, called upon the third and fourth generations of Costikyans to provide a proposal for the restoration of the Laver Kirman carpet.
This extremely fragile carpet required delicate hand soaking to dislodge the decades of dirt and grime. A myriad of broken “foundation strings” that ran the length of the rug needed to be completely reconstructed. These strings constituted the “framework” of the carpet. Restoration required new foundation strings to be woven rather than knotted into existing strings so their replacement would not be obvious.
The new wool required for reweaving sections of the “natural colored” background proved to be one of the most difficult phases of the restoration. The custom hand-dyed wool needed to match the original background in color, texture and weave. Any discrepancies would be obvious and therefore, unacceptable.
Worn and Restored Foundation
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A hundred years of oxidation had badly faded the once vibrant, vegetable dyed motif. Custom-blended, all natural dyes; months of hand tinting and meticulous color retouching were required to accurately restore the original design.
Sections of the carpet’s perimeter, known as the ”fringe and binding” had become loosened. This area is critical to the carpet’s integrity and required special techniques to “open”, re-align and strengthen it.
Worn and Restored Fringe & Corner
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The project began in September of 2007 and was completed in April of 2008. In eight months Restoration by Costikyan™ restored the 15ft.10 in. x 10ft. 4 in. Laver Kirman antique carpet to its former splendor.
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