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| - Leon Norell is the son of the late Henry and Malka Norell. A wheat farmer in Persia in his youth, Henry Norell went to England in 1925, swiftly to gain prominence among the community of Oriental carpet merchants trading at the famous Port of London Authority bonded warehouses, off Bishopsgate, in the City. Built for the East India Company by Clive of India in the 18th Century, the 'PLA warehouses’ as they came to be known, were an entrepôt for tea, coffee, port, vanilla, spices, resin, peacock feathers and myriad other exotic products from the East. They were also the Oriental carpet centre of the West, to which international buyers would throng. It was from that warehouse that, breaking a cartel by a number of merchants, his father became one of the principle suppliers to Harrods, Liberty
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| abstract
| - Leon Norell is the son of the late Henry and Malka Norell. A wheat farmer in Persia in his youth, Henry Norell went to England in 1925, swiftly to gain prominence among the community of Oriental carpet merchants trading at the famous Port of London Authority bonded warehouses, off Bishopsgate, in the City. Built for the East India Company by Clive of India in the 18th Century, the 'PLA warehouses’ as they came to be known, were an entrepôt for tea, coffee, port, vanilla, spices, resin, peacock feathers and myriad other exotic products from the East. They were also the Oriental carpet centre of the West, to which international buyers would throng. It was from that warehouse that, breaking a cartel by a number of merchants, his father became one of the principle suppliers to Harrods, Liberty, John Lewis, Selfridges, Army & Navy and other West End department stores. Leon Norell was born in London on 15 October 1937. He was educated at Carmel College, a secular Jewish boarding school, from 1949–1953 and served in the RAF from 1956-1957. Today, he is director of Leon Norell Ltd, a company importing fine, handmade, silk and wool Oriental carpets. Of special interest, particularly to Interior Designers, are his hard-to-find colours that complement current decors. In the 1960s, trading from his father’s offices in Devonshire Row EC2, he became notable for offering the public the opportunity to choose from £9 million worth of Oriental carpets owned by the merchants at the PLA. He was catapulted to fame by The Sunday Times Insight Team in 1967 who, posing as customers, went to investigate an apparently suspect advertisement purporting to offer thousands of Persian and other Oriental carpets from which the public could choose, at half retail. The following Sunday he received front page acclamation. In those days Persian carpets were in high demand, steadily appreciating in value and promising to be the ideal hedges against inflation. With the diminishing demand in the early 70s, however, Leon Norell offered the public the unprecedented opportunity to buy his carpets, use them for ten years and then return them for a full refund. Fortunately for him no-one took up his offer. But in the late 70s came a throng of owners of carpets brought home by members of the Merchant Navy in the 30s and 40s, responding to another of his innovative advertisements. This time in the Daily Telegraph, he offered to buy their second hand Persian carpets, adding, ‘It may be worth more than you think!’ '
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