Bear RugsRugs Carpet
Not until the middle of the eighteenth century was any organized carpet-knotting industry established. Two disgruntled workmen from the Savonnerie factory of the French king came over to England.
They secured the patronage of one of the royal princes, and started a small factory. Here they trained English designers and weavers, and by 1753 were employing over a hundred people.
This business venture did not last long, but it aroused a lot of interest. The Royal Society of Arts began to offer prizes for the best hand-knotted carpets.
For three years running a man named Thomas Witty won an award. He had started in 1755 a small stone factory in a tiny, sleepy town on the river Axe.
