Get the rug bug: how Thames Carpets went viral

Bahram Javadi-Babreh, proprietor of Thames Carpets in Oxfordshire, is not only an expert in his trade. “I am an artist,” he says casually, sitting in the office of his workshop, situated in the village of Wheatley. It’s a well-earned title. Born in north-western Iran, Javadi-Babreh has been weaving since the age of four. As a child, he would be hidden away when inspectors searching for underage labourers came to the factory where he worked. Today, evidence of his artistry is visible on every surface of the workshop: thousands of handmade carpets that he has sourced, repaired, or had woven in Iranian and Azeri workshops.

The shop came to him serendipitously. After moving to England to study engineering in 1978, just before Iran erupted into revolution, he started carpet weaving and restoration as a way to survive in a new country. The former owners of Thames Carpets contacted him when they needed to replicate a signature that had accidentally been removed from a rug; he was the only person in the country who could re-weave it. They began working together and, in 2001, the business was given to Bahram when they retired.

For the past 10 years, Bahram has run the shop with a partner: his daughter. Sophie studied performing arts in London but soon realised her dad’s work was actually “really cool”. She now manages the stock and accounts, meets new clients and runs their social media, while her father splits his time between the UK and Iran. 

Sophie typically advises people by asking for a description of what they’re looking for before narrowing down options from the thousands of pieces in the Thames Carpets inventory. They also plan to display a curated selection in a gallery space in Henley that is due to open this summer. 

150 years ago, everyone was making great rugs

Their stock is sourced from Iran, the UK and Europe, via auction houses and estate sales, but they also sell original rugs woven at the workshops in Iran and Azerbaijan, under Bahram’s direction. Their pictorial rugs are especially mesmerising. Hanging in the workshop is an early-20th-century Iranian rug depicting a girl called Sara from an Azerbaijani folk song (£12,000). Another 20th-century Iranian design shows the four seasons of Persia (£4,200). But Sophie assures me it is possible to find something that will last a long time for less than £1,000: a gentle, green-hued needlepoint from Greece (sold for £180), for instance, or an intricate 20th-century silk Persian rug (£650). They also offer a repair and cleaning service. 

There is a common misconception that the best rugs come from certain countries. Yes, Iranian rugs are beautiful, says Sophie, but you can find equally lovely options from England, India, Sweden, Turkey, Nepal and Ukraine. The time period in which it was made is what matters most. “150 years ago, everyone was making great rugs,” explains Bahram, who laments the more modern use of synthetic fibres: “They should send the guy making them to prison!” You can easily spot a handmade rug, Sophie notes, because the design will match on the front and back, the fringe won’t be tacked on, and the knots will all be slightly different.

The father and daughter make for a strong team, combining Bahram’s “free spirit”, as Sophie describes it, and her own boundless passion that is ploughed into their ever-growing social media presence. “Rugs are meant to be lived on,” Sophie says. A good rug, made with quality materials and natural dyes, should last hundreds of years. To prove the point, Bahram once ran an experiment where he buried a rug for a week, dug it back up, dropped some coals on it, ran a digger over it and then cleaned it. The result? Someone came in the other week wanting to buy it.  

Thames Carpets, Broadway House, Newtown Rd, Henley-on-Thames; thamescarpets.co.uk; @thamescarpets