CURRAGH ‘TINTAWN’ LOOM IS SILENT

Curragh ‘Tintawn’ loom is silent

The Shuttle flies across the sisal warp and the beam clangs for the last time as the the ‘Tintawn’ loom grinds to a final halt at Curragh Carpets’ weaving mill in Newbridge. This marks the end of an era not only for Newbridge but for the carpet trade. Earlier this year, Curragh made a policy decision to cease manufacturing their famous “Tintawn Sisal Cord” carpet because of changes in interior fashions, rising costs and the advent in recent years of many ranges of cheaper synthetic carpet.

Sisal carpeting was first produced in Ireland in the 1950s when the Newbridge company decided to improve upon the quality of sisal matting as manufactured by twine makers in Europe. Designers of international repute, Louis Le Brocquy and Margaret Leischner, transformed the product into a fashion flooring acceptable internationally. “Tintawn Sisal Cord” was launched in the early sixties. Timing was perfect, coinciding with the Scandinavian vogue for “natural” products, teak, knotty pine, goat skin.

“Tintawn” was aimed at the young, affluent middle class market in the U.K. It was advertised widely and by 1965 over a million square yards a year were exported to the U.K. and markets in the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and Sweden. Sales peaked in the late 1960s and John Bates, Curragh’s Marketing Director, believed that diversification into high grade wool carpets was the best way to retain the Company’s growing market shared in the face of a rapidly growing carpet industry. So, in 1972, Curragh introduced their “Natural Wool Collection”. This consisted of three textures in 100% poor wool – “Shepherd-weave”, “Shearling” and “Woolwarp”.

Carpets are fashion, must be aesthetically desirable and meet the interior fashion dictates of the day. They are an investment and remain on the floor long after curtains and wallpaper have been replaced and so must have a “classic” aura to cement their appeal to the fashion and price conscious housewife. Curragh have an international reputation for top quality texture and design in carpets. They study fashions in interiors everywhere and their success can be measured by their profitable survival in the depressed worldwide carpet market of the seventies. Thus in 1974, “Thatcher”, a flat-woven carpet in 80% wool and 20% nylon, was produced and became a big success, and this year further loom adaptation has resulted in “Loomtune”, a traditional herring-bone weave, in 60% wool, 20% hair and 20% nylon, and this is arousing much interest in Europe and Australia. Curragh are about to introduced an “All Wool Velvet” carpet, subtly coloured by designer Eileen Ellis in eleven “suede” look colourways. This “All Wool Velvet” will provide an excellent design base for the fashion conscious interior designer or housewife who wishes to use matching printed fabrics on walls, curtains and upholstery.

Curragh’s marketing success requires that it operates as efficiently as possible to meet time scheduled and delivery dates. The Company’s 1, 500 retail customers can ring the order desks in Newbridge and sales personnel manning live video display screen terminals instantly summon up stock availability information on any one of the 450 different stock items by quality, width and design. As part of the recent £1.5 m. carpet development programme, Curragh installed a hugh new carpet backing machine which is now fully on stream. So Curragh are looking ahead to the 1980s quietly prepared and confident that their reputation for texture and design will keep them among the leaders in the international carpet fashion market.

This article, highlighting the end of an era with the end of manufacturing of the famous “Tintawn Sisal Cord” carpet, appeared in The Leinster Leader of Saturday, 27th October 1979.