HISTORIC CARPET CARE
ABOUT US
Ksynia Marko ACR and Heather Porter ACR are both Icon (Institute of Conservation) professionally accredited conservators with knowledge and experience in the care of historic carpets and rugs.
Working with other conservators, property staff, museum staff, and housekeepers, we offer our services and expertise to all those who are responsible for the care of carpets and rugs.
OUR AIMS
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To improve the standard of care of historic carpets by adapting commercial carpet cleaning processes to suit a conservation environment.
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To prolong their useful life and preserve them in the best possible condition.
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To provide training for those responsible for the care of carpets.
KSYNIA MARKO ACR
Following a degree in Textiles at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, Ksynia worked in the Textile Conservation Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum. In 1975 She was awarded a Winston Churchill Travelling Scholarship to study tapestry and carpet restoration and conservation techniques across Europe. This research profoundly influenced her subsequent activities.
In 1980 she set up her own highly successful Textile Conservation Studio in London and in 1991 she was invited by The National Trust to become Manager of their Textile Conservation Studio based at Blickling Hall in Norfolk, and subsequently became the Trust’s National Textile Advisor. This role involved being responsible for overseeing all textile, upholstery, carpet, and tapestry conservation treatments across the organisation.
In 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Plowden Medal by the Royal Warrant Holders Association in recognition of her contribution to textile conservation for more than four decades.
Her recent focus has been on the care of historic carpets, working with Glyn Charnock on adapting commercial methodologies for conservation, delivering training, giving lectures and publishing a manual on the care of historic carpets. Having retired from the National Trust in 2018 she remains a freelance textile conservator and consultant, frequently delivering training and undertaking carpet surveys and compiling treatment plans.
HEATHER PORTER ACR
Heather graduated with an MA in Upholstery Conservation from the Royal College of Art / Victoria & Albert Museum in 2001. She went on to gain further experience through positions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and the National Trust’s Conservation Studio at Knole, Kent. She has also spent time working in commercial upholstery workshops where materials and approaches differ significantly from those used in conservation treatments.
During the past 20 years Heather has developed a particular interest in cleaning upholstery textiles whilst still attached to the furniture frame, which led to a combined collaboration with Glyn Charnock and senior conservator Frances Hartog at the V&A Museum who were undertaking carpet cleaning research in 2016. Since then, Heather has adapted similar techniques to clean various types of fabric.
Heather currently works as a freelance conservator and has worked with Glyn in historic houses cleaning carpets using the dry and wet extraction methods developed by Ksynia and Glyn.
We are also part of the Trusted Conservators network, www.trustedconservators.com, a team offering expertise and advice on the care and conservation of a variety of other artefacts.
