Oriental rug restoration — reweaving, fringe binding, and foundation repair by hand.
Oriental rug restoration is the patient craft of bringing a damaged rug back to structural integrity. Reweaving missing knots, binding worn fringe, rebuilding broken foundation, color-matching original yarn — all on our restoration bench by the Cohen family. For more than a decade across the Northeast. Conservation-grade work for antique pieces, performed in our atelier. Pickup across Manhattan, the Hamptons, Westchester, Greenwich, and Stamford.
Reweaving, foundation, fringe, color — every hand-restoration discipline.
Each discipline has its own bench, its own tools, its own hand. Done correctly, all of them disappear into the original weave.
Reweaving
Missing knots rebuilt one by one, by hand, on the restoration bench. Color- and tension-matched to the original weave.
Foundation Repair
Broken warps and wefts re-knotted at their full original tension. The skeleton of the rug, rebuilt before any pile is touched.
Fringe Binding
Worn or unraveled fringes re-secured and re-bound. The most common restoration job, and the one most often done badly.
Selvedge Repair
Side cords re-wrapped and re-secured. Restores edge tension so the rug lies flat and resists future wear.
Hole Repair
Punctures and missing sections rewoven knot by knot. The repair disappears into the original drawing when done correctly.
Patch Repair
Missing pile sections rebuilt with color-matched yarn on a new foundation insert, blended into the surrounding weave.
Color-Matched Yarn
Replacement yarn drawn from our dye stocks and matched to the original palette by the master artisan, fiber by fiber.
Moth-Damage Rebuild
Wool eaten by larvae rewoven on a restored foundation. Inspected, treated, and rebuilt at the same time.
Edge Restoration
Worn ends and corners rebuilt with end-binding and corner-knotting. Stops further unraveling at the moment it begins.
Antique Conservation
Reversible, archival restoration on museum-grade pieces. The lightest possible intervention, calibrated to age and value.
How a damaged rug moves through our atelier.
Three to six weeks for major restoration, calibrated to the scope, age, and structure of your rug.
Assessment by the master artisan.
Our master artisan examines the damage, draws the restoration plan, and color-matches yarn before any thread is touched. Antique pieces are documented before work begins.
Hand-restoration on the bench.
Reweaving, foundation repair, fringe binding, selvedge restoration — all by hand, all on our restoration bench, all on premises. Never outsourced, never machine-assisted.
Inspection + return.
Final hand-pass, wrapped, returned to your home. Done correctly, the restoration disappears into the original weave — and the rug is once again a piece you can live with.
Why machine-restoration doesn't exist.
Restoration is a heritage hand-skill. A machine cannot read the tension of an original weave, cannot judge dye lots against a fading palette, cannot guess at the knot count of a damaged section. Every restoration discipline — reweaving, foundation repair, fringe binding, color-matching — is bench work, done with a knotting needle, bobbins, and an eye trained over decades.
Restoration mistakes are irreversible. A patch sewn at the wrong tension will telegraph forever. A dye that fades at a different rate will declare itself within a year. We work slowly because we have to: yarn matched by hand, tension matched to the original, knot count rebuilt to the original drawing. Done right, the work disappears. Done wrong, it cannot be undone.
Where the rug is brought back to itself.
The restoration bench is the slowest room in the atelier. The master artisan examines weave, draws color-matched yarn from dye stocks, and rebuilds the rug knot by knot. Antique restoration is invisible work — it is supposed to disappear into the original.
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 Restoration
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 rug restored by our atelier?
Where we pick up your rug for restoration.
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 oriental rug restoration?
Reweaving versus binding — what's the difference?
How long does restoration take?
Will the repair show?
My antique is moth-damaged — can it be saved?
My antique is sun-faded — can the color be restored?
My rug was in a flood — can the foundation be rebuilt?
Do you pick up rugs for restoration across the tri-state?
Where is restoration done — in-house or outsourced?
How is restoration priced?
What is oriental rug restoration?
Reweaving versus binding — what's the difference?
How long does restoration take?
Will the repair show?
Do you pick up rugs for restoration across the tri-state?
Where is restoration done — in-house or outsourced?
My antique is moth-damaged — can it be saved?
My antique is sun-faded — can the color be restored?
My rug was in a flood — can the foundation be rebuilt?
How is restoration priced?
More from Horizon.
Other ateliers, every service we offer, and the rest of our story — a few directions to explore.
Send us the rug.
Reweaving, foundation repair, fringe binding, color-matched yarn, moth-damage rebuild — whichever restoration your rug needs, we work by hand on our bench. Complimentary pickup from Manhattan, the Hamptons, Westchester County, Greenwich, and Stamford.
By hand · By the Cohen family · By appointment