Mr. Bashir is currently writing the autobiography of his life's work entitled: "Confessions of a Rug Merchant". Chapters will be appearing below as they are completed.

Before I begin, I would like to express my gratitude to all the clients who have given me the opportunity to serve them for the last 33 years. Also, I would like to give a special thanks to all the Interior Decorators and Interior Designers who I have met over the years and who very kindly insist on dealing exclusively with me. Thank you to my wife and children for their patience, my brothers and suppliers overseas for listening and making carpets in colours that I request as well as for assisting me in obtaining carpets on a daily basis from all over the world.

While at home, your wife turns to you and says: "We need a Persian or Oriental rug for the living room." Before you know it, you need a carpet for the dining room, the Den/TV room, entrance, bedrooms, hallways, etc. This is how it should be, but you can do what you want. If it was me I would consult a interior designer who would guide me,or go with me to a store,advise me what would work with what I have in the house. In my 33 years in North America I can count on fingers the men who have come in and selected the carpets with impeccable taste.and things worked out very well. But mostly ladies come and select carpets guys are not very much interested in this process(few exceptions). But it would be good if men have an idea of the direction that ladies are going to. colors of walls,drapes,furniture.it helps them to visualize the final decor to some extent.

When looking to purchase a carpet, the following factors must be examined before hand:

• Room Sizes
• Desired Carpet Sizes
• Carpet Styles; Floral, Tribal, Antique or Geometric
• Carpet Colors; Light, Medium or Dark
• Effects on it's surrounding environment

For example, in your living room, do you wish for your carpet to discretely blend in or do you wish for it's effect to be stunning as such making it become the main focus of the room ? It is the choice that you have to make. It is difficult to find a perfect rug, but try to come close to what you are looking for. Sometimes the challenge is in finding the right size, sometimes it is in finding the right color. Once this is settled, then it is a question of price.

My memories of carpets is that during summer school holidays, I would visit my maternal grandparents house. Their principal trade was and still is to organize hand embroidery of silk threads on woolen shawls. Their secondary trade was the weaving of carpets on hand looms. After the partition of India and Pakistan, my grand parents being of Kashmiri origins, and with the issue of Kashmir still not settled, they moved to Pakistan. They received 3 homes in exchange of the property they left behind. They lived in one home. In the other two homes, they put rug looms so that weavers could use to make carpets. My mother's other cousins were also into carpet weaving. I would go there one summer they would be working on a Carpet and following summer it would still be the same carpet I say the size would be a 12'x9'. My memories was that it was party type of atmosphere,the transistor radio blaring music,plenty of food,The pigeons One of my uncle kept pigeons and he would compete with locals on whose pigeon could fly the longest,I remember seeing him crushing almonds mixing with something(probably steroids) then feeding to the pigeons so that pigeons could fly the longest.They let them loose in the morning and whichever pigeon flew most and came back last would be the winner.There were also people flying kites,goats roaming around, the chant of the master weaver reciting to young weavers how many knots of black ,or how many knots of red and he went on and on.... At That time I thought it would be weird that it so long to make a carpet but it does take a long time to finish a carpet.

In this area there was no paved road only a train that passed few times a day.The carpet once finished would be taken off the loom,Tied put on a horse drawn carriage brought to the train station,for onward journey to Lahore nearest city and a center of Carpet processing,

The Carpet once in Lahore railway station,or bus station is then loaded to another tanga(horse drawn carriage) or a pickup brought to the market and whoever pays the highest amount(mostly exporters or a exporter who originally commissioned the carpet in the first place)gets the carpet where it is washed, pile of the carpet cut(sheared) evenly by hand,edges cut straight and bound because most of the time the carpet is not straight.Checked for defects and now the carpet is ready for sale.

What is in a name ? It used to be that at one point, the name of a carpet meant something. Now a days, it doesn't mean as much. It's name usually corresponded to the town, village or tribe it was made from. For example, the Nain would be a carpet made in the city of Nain located in Iran. Now a days, a Tabas carpet looks very much like a Nain carpet, which is much cheaper but is sold as a Nain because people think that Nains is a good carpets. It may have a Nain design still made in Iran but it is not the traditional Nain as we knew it. This type of practice is so wide spread that a majority of internet retailers, stores, auction houses sell them as Nains. I think that if people liked the color they would buy it any way.

Countries that produce carpets

Nowadays carpets come from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, India, China, Nepal, Turkey, Turkomanistan, Chechnya, Azerbaijan and Armenia. It seems it is getting harder and harder to produce genuine hand knotted carpets in almost all the countries. So India and China are using new methods which are not really hand knotted. They are called latex backed carpets in which a thread is looped around warp & weft without knotting and then a lot of latex is applied on the back of the carpet to prevent it from falling apart. Then they cover it with a cloth backing to hide the mess. These types of carpets are next to impossible to clean. When washed underwater, the glue-latex becomes unglued loosing its intensity to hold the pile together. Also, at times during washing process, the glue comes on the surface of the carpet creating a nightmarish yellowish scenario for the poor carpet cleaner. They are best sent to carpet heaven than to have them cleaned. These types of carpets are to be avoided but then again it depends on your budget. Many big box stores sell these carpets saying they are handmade when they are not. It is like someone saying he is vegetarian because the cows that he eats are vegetarian.

Antique Carpets

Finding and collecting Persian and Oriental carpets is a job and a passion. To me, it is more a passion than a job. There are carpets for all tastes and you have to see what you like. There are at times shows and meetings about carpets going on in various north American cities. I have given lectures to interior design students from various universities and private schools. Talking about old rugs, I know of a couple who adore and love only antique rugs. Six months ago they brought me a picture of a very old Bessarabian Carpet vivid colors,red,green,black. They could afford to buy this rug at any price but the rug was old and not for sale,So they asked me to have it done,I asked my brother overseas who had it done by Afghan weavers and the result,the client was very pleased. So any old carpet can be reproduced to close to its original look and feel.

The Bokhara

Bokhara is a town in the former U.S.S.R. The majority of Bokhara carpets(90%)are made in Pakistan. In fact, 15% of total rug productions in Pakistan are of Bokhara carpets. They are easy to like and most of the carpet connoisseurs collectors & experts in the western world began with them. They come in many colours. We even have a purple Bokhara. The most popular type of Bokhara is the red bokhara. During President Jimmy Carter's time in The White house A red Bokhara most probably from Pakistan is displayed in many pictures. In our stock we have russian Bokharas, Persian bokharas but the type that sells the most is the Pakistani Bokhara. Bokharas also have Turkman/Turkmanistan origins.

Habibian Nains & Nains

Once Habibian Nains used to be considered very important carpets in the Nain family. Regular Nains mostly came in an ivory colored background with some blue and beige. Sometimes the blue was more deeply pronounced and sometimes it was made of a lighter blue. There are however exceptions. Sometimes, they came in vibrant red and vibrant green. Now, there are a lot of carpets on the market that are signed Habibian Nains but are not made by Habibian families and are for sale in the american and canadian markets. It is very hard to find real Habibian carpets because of the high demand. Older Nain rugs and carpets are also hard to find. To me, if a customer likes a Nain, whether it is Habibian or not should not make a difference.

Tabas

Tabas Rugs look like Nain Rugs and have similar colors as the Nain but it is not a Nain Rug. Many merchants sell them as Nains. It's made in the city of Tabas located in Iran. Tabas is a good carpet for its price, but it should be sold as Tabas to consumers and not as a Nain Rug.

Cleaning Services

We clean carpets as well. On the week of June 20th, 2007, I received a call from a client that needed her carpet cleaned. She informed me that her husband's cat had turned her living room carpet into a toilet zone. The cat was doing her business in one corner of the carpet. The lady told me it was a silk nain carpet 12'x9' that she bought at an auction and paid well over C$10,000. Since I had to write on the bill what I was picking up I wrote a Chinese carpet with somewhat Nain design,The lady was surprised and somewhat shocked that it was a Chinese carpet and it was wool and not silk,because she bought at a reputable auction house. My point in telling this story is If you like the carpet then enjoy it it does not matter what it is.as long as you like it.

One of my daughters would like me to carry what Martha Stewart area rugs would carry which are modern at times and come in all price ranges. One would follow Martha Stewart and her style and everything Martha Stewart, whereas the other would have nothing to do with Mrs. Stewart. However,she still has good taste, color sense and design sense in Oriental area rugs. She would like to continue carrying the high end standard Persian area rugs and is not against carrying Martha Stewart type of area carpets neither. Hence, we have decided to accommodate the two young ladies.

This is it for now. I will write some more soon. I have to leave to serve a customer now. She just walked into the store. More chapters will be appearing shortly. Thank you for reading.