Inside Story:
The magic of a carpet
Claire and Brett Jones, South African
We had been living in our house for a while but some of the rooms were lacking something. I decided we needed some rugs to create warmth and define certain areas. I was looking for a Nguni hide to add a touch of home but was struggling to find just what I wanted. Then I stumbled upon an article in Expat Living for The Cinnamon Room, with images of some unique hide rugs.
Visha was so helpful. She asked lots of questions to get a better understanding of what I wanted – even when I wasn’t completely clear myself. She looked at photos of our rooms and gave her honest opinion, especially in ensuring my selection would be easy to take with us in the future. Visha went out of her way by loaning us a number of rugs so I could see how they looked. When I was undecided, she was happy to come and help with placing and suggesting sizes.
I ended up buying two metallic hide rugs for our bedroom, which helped break up the large space into two, as well as a monochrome rug that Visha suggested we place in the lounge – and which pulled the room together beautifully. I now have another two rugs on order!
Service plays a huge part in the buying experience, or it can be a costly exercise. Visha at The Cinnamon Room understands this and has a great eye. She offers some great ideas, especially if you’re undecided.
43 Jln Merah Saga 9727 3051 | thecinnamonroom.com
Scott, Sarann and Amelia Johnson, American
When we moved to Singapore a year ago, we decorated our house in a bit of a rush. Now we’ve settled in and know we’ll be here longer-term, we wanted to spend a bit more time making our home more comfortable.
When we visited Lotto Carpets Gallery, we found Noman extremely patient – he made us feel like he wanted to help us find the right rug rather than just making a fast sale. He helped us articulate the style we were looking for and guided us to the right one. In the process, he gave us tons of wonderful details about the history and significance of the rugs we looked at.
We loved the beautiful variety of the store’s oneof-a-kind rugs and carpets from all over the world. Each rug is beautifully crafted and comes with its own unique history of where, when and how it was produced. We could have sat in the shop all day listening to them speak about rugs! You can also tell there is genuine love and passion about what the team do and the service they provide.
We’ve purchased a few rugs from Lotto; the latest was an amazing Kazak rug from the early 1900s. It has really striking and distinctive rich blue shades and we’re beyond happy with it.
Blk 26 #01-04, Dempsey Road 6476 8784 | lottocarpets.com
Jeanette Chia, Singaporean
We actually weren’t looking for a rug when we found Hedger’s Carpet Gallery after breakfast at Dempsey one day. Nothing prepared me for that heart-stopping moment when I saw a beautiful Persian carpet hanging on a wall. It has pretty blue and turquoise flowers with pink blushes on a cream base. There’s a divinely Peranakan feel about it, and it became our first purchase at Hedger’s.
We found Peter, the owner, to be extremely passionate about his carpets; he has a real respect for the craft and its creators. The stories he regaled us with of his buying trips, encounters with the carpet weavers and his rich knowledge of the handicraft made it a wonderfully memorable experience.
Since then, we’ve gone on to buy three more carpets from Peter. He was even gracious enough to exchange a carpet because when we got home we realised it wasn’t quite right. The carpet was taken back with no questions asked, and Hedger’s launched a search based on our new specifications. It took no time at all before a carpet was brought into Singapore for us, and it now sits proudly in our living room. It’s the centre of every conversation we have with visitors!
The last carpet we purchased was another Persian – this one an exquisite Tree of Life from Esfahan, trimmed with brick-red coloured sides and adorned with deer and birds of paradise. Our relationship and trust in Peter and the team is irreplaceable; I would recommend Hedger’s in a heartbeat.
13 Dempsey Road #01-02 6462 0028 | hedgerscarpetgallery.com.sg