At Auction: The Textile Legacy of Pip Rau

This February, Olympia Auctions presents a timed single-owner sale that will resonate deeply with collectors and textile lovers alike: The Pip Rau Collection of Ikats, Embroideries and Costumes, Part I. Running from 19 February to 1 March 2026, the auction offers a rare opportunity to encounter the legacy of one of London’s most distinctive and influential figures in the field of Central Asian textiles.

Pip Rau in her Islington shop in 1988. Photograph: Richard Waite

Pip Rau (1938–2024) was a dealer, collector and indefatigable traveller whose eye for colour and form shaped tastes far beyond her Islington shop. In 1974, she opened Rau on Islington Green, a small but legendary space that she ran for four decades. From here, she introduced generations of artists, designers and collectors to textiles and costumes from Uzbekistan, northern Pakistan and, above all, Afghanistan – a country she loved deeply and visited repeatedly from the early 1970s onwards.

An Ikat panel, Uzbekistan. Collection of Pip Rau.

Rau’s sensibility was rooted in her art school training at St Martin’s School of Art and the Central School of Arts and Crafts, but it was her instinctive response to textiles that truly set her apart. She selected pieces for their visual impact rather than technical perfection, responding to graphic force, rhythm and colour with a painter’s eye. This approach found its fullest expression in her passion for ikat...

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Image Credits:

Lead: An Ikat Panel, Central Asia. Collection of Pip Rau.

All further images as credited in photo captions.