Helen Yardley Gallery

You’re not really going to set out for the Helen Yardley unless you are in the market for a high end, one of a kind artist-​made rug, but you’re not going to shy away from taking a peek when in the neighbourhood if you happen to have a few extra minutes. What you will see through the generous floor to ceiling windows are the rugs themselves, hung on walls and draped across floors and, at the end of the room, the shopkeep herself. Seated in the far corner working away at her Apple laptop she’s a kindly lady with an obvious commitment to her work.
The Helen Yardley Gallery is an odd amalgam of Clerkenwell traits, and one of London’s very few artisanal rug gallery spaces. As such it is ultimately a commercial venture with a high art spin, saluting a level of craftsmanship and a general appreciation for a once dominant and now oft-​overlooked form.