Exclusive Stories

Brian Robins and Rebecca Lurie are the dynamic business partners who own and operate Kush Rugs in Portland, Oregon. Self-described as a “labor of love,” Kush is the manifestation of the founders’ pursuit of that basic, yet elusive goal: Do what you love! The gallery offers a fresh perspective on a centuries-old art, representing modern, traditional, tribal and custom work from all over the world. This is Robins’ own account of part of that perspective.

The mere utterance of its name alone is enough to elicit controversy. On one hand there are those who love to hate upon it, on the other are those who embrace its use. Viscose, in its various forms, is increasingly used in rugs and carpets of multiple qualities. RUG INSIDER presents a daring look at both sides discussing its relative performance characteristics, situations unsuited for viscose, some key legal notes, and finally what makes a viscose carpet great. 

The oriental rug trade has changed tremendously over the past two decades, to the point where the description is no longer even politically correct. It has been replaced by the more generic ‘area rug’ or ‘decorative rug trade.’  The way we do business here at Persian Gallery New York has also evolved enormously over the two past decades. We went from being a traditional wholesale trade business that was very insular and protected, in which a client had to go through a retailer or interior designer to gain access, to a modern, high tech, global operation, where the emphasis is on being digital. In addition to a highly functional website, including high resolution digital images, there is email, social media, live chat and being accessible and available on all of them 24-7. All those platforms require having your product available wherever the user's smart-phone is likely to take them, and with the minimal number of taps and swipes.

Designed by Garth Roberts, cc-tapis’ After Party carpet recently won a coveted German Design Award. The design— inspired in part by post fete confetti on the floor—reminds of the Memphis Design Movement of the 1980s, terrazzo flooring, vinyl composite tile (VCT), and one might argue, an updated and revisited Desert from Odegard Carpets.

When researching ‘The Rugs and Carpets of Fallingwater,’ for our Summer 2018 issue, it immediately became apparent that given the current popularity of Moroccan carpets, an article about mimicking the look of Fallingwater would have to be written. A survey of the pages of ‘Fallingwater’ by Lynda Waggoner reveals photographs of room after room of either white, fluffy, and inviting Beni Ourain rugs or more lively and red colored embroidered flatweaves; both of these readily available in today’s marketplace. But is it right, (or Wright) simply to duplicate the aesthetic?

When RUG INSIDER first started publication in 1996 the rug market was nearing the end run of a great class of traditionally styled rugs that replicated the look of those familiar Persian designs of Kashan, Isfahan, Kerman, and especially Tabriz to name but a few. Handmade in the Peoples Republic of China the so-called Sino-Persian rugs rose to prominence in the late 1980s as an alternative to their Persian cousins, which were banned by a United States embargo from 1987 to 2000. 

Though Alicia Keshishian comes from an Armenian rug family well steeped in the trade of quintessentially ‘oriental’ carpets, her aesthetic is decidedly modern. RUG INSIDER talks with the rug designer and color expert to gauge what defines—or often redefines—an aesthetic.