Robert Mann

Robert Mann has had a talent for connecting the unique dots in his life to achieve a career in the carpet and textile industry. Born in New York City, his family moved to Europe in the mid-1950’s where he grew up. Robert left high school in 1971 and as a child of the sixties, hit the ‘hippy trail’.  He spent seven years living out of a backpack, traveling throughout rug producing countries.

In 1978, life took a turn while he was visiting a friend in Boulder, Colorado. It was then that he started an apprenticeship in Denver as a rug restorer studying under an Iranian man named Hamid Sharifzadeh. Having travelled in Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan, with a budding interest in textiles, somehow it all made sense. Within a year, Hamid decided to move back to Iran and Robert and his co-worker were on their own as newly minted business owners. This story line evolved over the next 45 years from restoring rugs out of an apartment in Boulder – washing them in the bathtub – to presently operating Robert Mann Rugs Inc. out of a 24,000 square foot state-of-the-art rug cleaning and restoration facility in Denver, Colorado.

In 1989 Robert began providing technical expertise to Woven Legends, helping to solve problems and establish new lines of rug production.  He continued this work for the next 25 years, travelling and working in major rug-producing countries. During this time, he was asked by George Jevremovic (of Woven Legends) to assist in establishing the new rug restoration partnership he had started with the Opçin family in Turkey. Woven Legends Restoration started its operations in 1991 and Robert became its US representative. Over the years, the company evolved into what we presently know as Antique Textile Conservation.

After a long productive history, the staff at ATC has become close family and as the North American representative for ATC, Robert travels back to Izmir multiple times each year, consulting, advising and overseeing the work he sends there.