The antique wash — three intensities, calibrated by hand to the age, dyes, and foundation of your rug.
The antique wash is a slow, hand-controlled bath calibrated to the age, dye chemistry, and foundation of an antique rug. Water temperature, soap pH, soak time, and drying conditions are adjusted piece by piece. Three intensities — heavy, medium, light — chosen by the master artisan based on the rug's condition. The only wash appropriate for vegetable-dyed wool and antique silk. For more than a decade, hand-done in the Cohen atelier. Pickup tri-state.
Three intensities — and the seven parameters behind them.
Heavy, medium, light. Each intensity is the sum of seven parameters set by hand — never blanket, never automated.
Heavy Intensity
Intensive antique restoration. Deeply soiled wool rugs whose dye chemistry and foundation can take a longer, warmer bath.
Medium Intensity
The standard antique wash. Balanced water temperature, soap pH, and soak duration — the everyday baseline for an antique.
Light Intensity
Delicate silk and fragile vegetable dyes. Cooler water, shorter soak, gentlest soap chemistry — used on antique silk and dye-bleed-prone pieces.
Pre-soak Inspection
Every rug is examined by hand before water touches it. Fibers, foundation, dyes, and prior repairs are all read first.
Dye-Stability Test
Every color is tested for bleed risk. Vegetable-dyed antiques move under heat and alkaline soap — the test is non-negotiable.
Water-Temperature Calibration
Temperature is set per rug. Antique wool tolerates warmer baths; antique silk requires cool water throughout.
Soap-pH Calibration
Mild, hand-mixed solutions. Calibrated for the fiber and the dye chemistry — never blanket-strength detergent.
Soak Duration
Hours, sometimes days. Slow soaks lift decades of embedded soil without abrading the pile or stressing the foundation.
Flat Drying
Dried flat on slatted frames in a temperature-controlled room. Never tumbled, never hung — gravity ruins an antique.
Final Hand Inspection
Master artisan reviews every inch before the rug is wrapped. Anything missed at the start gets a second pass.
How an antique moves through our wash floor.
Seven to fourteen days, calibrated to the age, fiber, and dye chemistry of the piece.
Master artisan selects intensity.
Heavy, medium, or light — based on age, fiber, dye stability, and damage. Every rug gets a wash plan written before water touches it.
Hand-controlled bath.
pH-balanced soap, temperature controlled, soak duration adjusted — every parameter set by hand. Antique Persians and silks are washed individually, never in a batch, never on a machine.
Slow flat drying + finish.
Slatted frames, never tumbled. Hand-finished, wrapped, and returned to your home in better condition than the day it left.
Why an antique can never be cleaned like everything else.
An antique is dyed with vegetable chemistry — madder for red, indigo for blue, walnut hull for brown, pomegranate skin for yellow. Those dyes move under heat, friction, and alkaline soap. A rotary machine will lift them off the pile, felt the wool, and split the warps. Dry-cleaning solvents destabilize the dye chemistry. "Regular cleaning" is the wrong service for an antique because it was never designed for one.
The antique wash adapts. Heavy intensity on a deeply soiled antique wool whose dyes can take it. Medium on the standard antique restoration. Light on fragile silk and the most delicate vegetable dyes. Three intensities, set per rug, by the master artisan, before water touches the piece. It is the only wash that has ever been appropriate for a vegetable-dyed antique, and nothing better has been invented.
Heavy, medium, or light — never blanket.
Every antique that comes to the wash floor is examined first. The master artisan reads the rug — its age, dyes, foundation, prior repairs — and writes the wash plan. Heavy intensity for deeply soiled antique wool. Medium for the standard antique restoration. Light for fragile silk and the most delicate vegetable dyes.
Us versus a standard cleaner.
Where the two paths diverge. Eight choices that separate an atelier from a cleaning service.
Cleaning Method
Horizon
Hand-washed by master artisans
Standard Cleaner
Rotary machine, generic chemicals
Pickup & Delivery
Horizon
Complimentary — by our team, in our truck
Standard Cleaner
Third-party courier (or your problem)
Antique & Silk Wash
Horizon
Conservation-grade, by hand
Standard Cleaner
Same process as everything else
Process Time
Horizon
7–14 days, properly done
Standard Cleaner
1–2 day machine ‘express’
Dye Stability Testing
Horizon
Tested before every wash
Standard Cleaner
Not tested — rugs lose color
Where Your Rug Is Cleaned
Horizon
Our family atelier, supervised
Standard Cleaner
Third-party wash plant
Restoration & Reweaving
Horizon
In-house, by hand
Standard Cleaner
Outsourced or refused
Inspection
Horizon
By hand, before any work begins
Standard Cleaner
Visual only, if at all
Ready to have your antique washed by our atelier?
Where we pick up your antique.
Letters from across the Northeast.
A few of the rugs we've cared for — and the families who trusted us with them.
“They returned an heirloom Tabriz — the colors look exactly as my grandmother described them.”
“A 1920s Heriz I thought was beyond saving came back better than the day my parents bought it.”
“Our clients trust us with eight-figure homes. Horizon is the only atelier I send their rugs to.”
Questions, honestly answered.
What clients ask us before they hand over a rug — and how we answer.
What is the antique rug wash?
How is the antique wash different from regular cleaning?
How long does an antique wash take?
Heavy, medium, or light — how is the intensity chosen?
My antique already has dye bleed — is it safe to wash?
Antique silk — light intensity only?
Moth-damaged antique — wash first or treat first?
Do you pick up antique rugs across Manhattan, the Hamptons, Westchester, Greenwich, and Stamford?
Is the antique wash done in-house?
How is the antique wash priced?
What is the antique rug wash?
How is the antique wash different from regular cleaning?
How long does an antique wash take?
Heavy, medium, or light — how is the intensity chosen?
Do you pick up antique rugs across Manhattan, the Hamptons, Westchester, Greenwich, and Stamford?
Is the antique wash done in-house?
My antique already has dye bleed — is it safe to wash?
Antique silk — light intensity only?
Moth-damaged antique — wash first or treat first?
How is the antique wash priced?
More from Horizon.
Other ateliers, every service we offer, and the rest of our story — a few directions to explore.
Bring us your antique.
Vegetable-dyed wool, antique silk, deeply soiled heirloom — whichever antique you own, we wash with the intensity appropriate to its construction. Complimentary pickup from Manhattan, the Hamptons, Westchester County, Greenwich, and Stamford.
By hand · By the Cohen family · By appointment