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Though often forgotten and mis-remembered, this rug comes from one of the most important companies in the history of rug weaving, the company known as Bigelow. This particular piece dates from the Art Nouveau movement which spanned from the late 1900s through to the 1920s. Today, the name Bigelow is owned under the modern corporate concept of purchasing an older company's name and using those laurels to give a new corporation identity and an appearance of strength. In the truth of this statement lies the history of Bigelow. In 1838, Erastus B. Bigelow developed a coachlace loom which brought him into the notice of major weavers in the mill industries in and around Boston and Worcester, Mass. Bigelow managed to convince one of the local mills that he could take a newly invented loom from Britian and redesign it to work more efficiently and make lower quality good with greater speed. The Freeman, Cobb & Company mill bought into Bigelow's idea and found great success.Over the next decade, Bigelow would work his genius on lowering the cost of weaving as he increased the loom production of coachlace, ingrain, and eventually tapestry velvet, brussels, and wilton carpet. When he continued to produce consistent results, he became known as the inventor of the 'powerloom'. A name which survives him till today. By 1851, Bigelow formed his own company and began to exceed production of all other mills weaving the same type of goods. In 1879, Erastus Bigelow died and left his powerlooms to the world. The company continued in his name and carrying on his work and his position as a mover-and-shaker of the industry. In the early 20th century, Bigelow enveloped many smaller mills, much as Mohawk and Whittall eventually would do. During the depression, Bigelow stood strong and withstood the wave of financial disaster that would ravage the country and so much of the industry. And afterwards, Bigelow took part in the war production effort for the United States government as President Roosevelt worked to rebuild the American economy. After WW2, Bigelow surged forward taking its position once again as one of the leaders of the industry and innovators of design. Eventually, Bigelow would merge with Karastan, both suffering from the toils of the synthetic carpet industry eating away at the empires that had been forged in what appeared to be unbreakable and erosing resistent stone. Finally, the company that eventually bought out more mills than any other company, Mohawk Corporation/Group swallowed the combined pair. The rug offered here is a testament to the grand era of Bigelow's empire and the grand art of the industry in the first quarter of the 20th century. This era produced more dramatic and create patterns than any other era of design and decorative innovation than any other in American history before or since. CONDITION: The pile is 100% worsted wool on a cotton foundation in quality dyes of beige/yellow, ocher, midnight blue, golden ocher, peach/soft rose, and pale grey blue. The pile is consistent and even overall. There is one small two inch by two inch hole in which material is still intact, but some material is missing. There is also one small tinted area at the edge of the main border (please see picture above for details). CLEANING: This rug has been professionally hand cleaned by our conservation staff with a restorative thorough washing adhering to National Institute of Textiles and AIC (American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works) guidelines. No steam extraction methods or chemical detergents were used during the cleaning process. Ever step possible was taken to preserve the historic nature and conserve the rugs condition.
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