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The London Antique Rug & Textile Art Fair (LARTA) returns to the mezzanine of the Winter Decorative Fair in London’s Battersea Park in January 2025.
Taking place for the 13th year in succession, LARTA 2025 is bringing some new exhibitors, as well as some specialist dealers returning to exhibit on the mezzanine above the Winter edition of The Decorative Fair at Evolution London in Battersea Park, London from January 21 to 26, 2025.
LARTA is the annual gathering of London’s only specialist event for fine antique textile art, antique carpets, vintage rugs and associated works of art frequented by collectors and interior designers, as well as discerning members of the public.
Fitting with the current trend of increased interest in antique textiles for decorating interiors, as well as collecting, Marilyn Garrow Fine Textile Art returns alongside new exhibitor Junnaa & Thomi Wroblewski Ltd, the latter with a desirable mix of textiles from 19th-century French portrait tapestries to an Armenian 18th/19th-century embroidery produced for the Ottoman Empire.
Other new faces at LARTA 2025 include Gallery Zadah with antique rugs and carpets, Persian carpets, antique textiles and fine European tapestries, including an Ottoman embroidery from the Balkans, circa 1800. Thames Carpets, run by father and daughter duo Bahram and Sophie Javadi-Babreh, are also making their debut at LARTA 2025 with a wide range to offer from a mid-century Turkish Tulu rug, £400, to highlights such as a late-19th century Kazak Karachopf rug with a price tag of £18,000 and a handmade mid-century Wilton wool rug believed to have been designed by the British artist John Piper, selling for £8,000.
James Cohen always has an impressive selection of sizeable Persian carpets, as well as textiles, amongst which is a pair of 18th-century Greek island embroideries, from the Epirus region, silk on linen, priced in the region of £8,000 the pair. Phil Bell Antique Oriental Rugs exhibits again bringing a selection of antique Persian, Turkish, Caucasian and Turkoman rugs and decorative accessories.
Returning debuts from LARTA 2024 include Textile Antiques with a 17th-century green silk velvet embroidered with silk and gilt paper wrapped thread and couched silk thread, closely related to a hanging or coverlet in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a pair of 19th-century appliqué quilts by twin sisters Jane Ann Curry (1869-1950) and Mary Elizabeth Curry (1869-1928), each made to the same pattern using joined panels and appliquéd cut pieces of printed and plain cotton. Jenny Hicks Beach enjoyed her first time last January and returns with a selection of kilims and textiles, sought after by her interior design clientele.
Highlights from founder and fair organiser Aaron Nejad Gallery include a Shahsavan Soumac bagface from Caucasus, circa 1870, £1,000; and an exceptional silk embroidered Uratube Suzani from Uzbekistan, dating to around 1840, and clearly made as a dowry gift, £13,500. The 20th Century Modern stand includes French ‘Oiseaux’, an Aubusson tapestry designed by Monique Brix, one of a limited edition of five, selling for £2,400, and a fine Ewe ‘Kente’ cotton cloth from Ghana, woven on a handloom, priced at £1,250.
Two returning European exhibitors are also textile connoisseurs – Villa Rosemaine from Toulon in France and Markus Voigt from Achdorf in Germany, whose 19th century Chinese Ningxia column dragon carpet, made for a Buddhist monastery, is pictured at the top of this release, £6,800. Markus Voigt also brings an early 18th century Gujarati silk on chintz embroidery, so finely embroidered observers think it was printed, £5,800. Villa Rosemaine returns with lavish and simple antique and vintage costumes, textiles and trappings, amongst which is a French Marquis d’Aligre court embroidered velvet suit, Premier Empire period, dating to 1810-1820.
Launched in 2011, the LARTA fair is an important date for decorators, collectors and discerning buyers looking for both collectible and decorative rugs and textiles to add that ’je ne sais quoi’ to an interior. The expert dealers are offering items originating from Persia, India, China, Japan, Central Asia, Anatolia and the Caucasus, as well as from Europe, Africa and the Americas. As usual, LARTA Online opens on Tuesday 21 January 2025 at larta.net, mirroring some of what can be found at the fair in London’s Battersea Park, making LARTA available worldwide.
