A version of this article was first published in April, 1982 in Volume 4, No. 2 of Rug News Magazine.
We have spent a considerable amount of space lately in RUG NEWS talking about Chinese Rugs. We thought that it would be of interest to talk to Mr. V. Nazarian, who as a representative for A. and M. Karagheusian, went to Tiensin, China in 1928/29. A. and M. Karagheusian had started their operations in China by 1922/23. (Donchian had arrived a few years earlier.)
Even before Mr. Nazarian graduated from Roberts College in Istanbul, he had a responsible job waiting for him in the Oriental Rug Business. Recommended by his headmaster, he went immediately to work for A. & M. Karagheusian and he stayed with them until he had the opportunity to buy the Long Island Carpet Co. in 1931.
It will be remembered by many in the trade that in 1920, when Nazarian arrived in New York on the `Olympic’, the commercial carpet trade had heavily invested in Sarouks, Gorevans, and Kirmans. It was to complement this aspect of the trade that Nazarian was asked to go to China in 1928 by A. & M. Karagheusian, as a manager of a manufacturing and weaving plant in the Treaty Port of Tiensin. The journey took 21 days; train to Vancouver, boat to Kobi, train through Manchuria, Mukden and on to Tiensin.
The rug warehouses in Tiensin were scattered all over the town, and it would appear that the photograph off the staff must have been taken at a rare moment of repose. In the staff photo we can see Mr. Nazarian, his English assistant, the bookkeeper, dyer, wool buyer, supplier, stenographer and the very important comprador as well as some other Chinese who worked for the firm. The Karagheusian factory had from 200/300 looms in Tiensin, of different beams. The weaving was done by boys, who earned the equivalent of $10 a month and who were engaged by the comprador.
We were greatly interested to learn from Mr. Nazarian that until 1926, the skillful blending of the lustrous Chinese wool was done by hand; then increased demand brought the introduction of machine spinners and blenders. Arbrashes and more uneven blending occurred to a far greater degree before 1926. This would be of great importance in the large amounts of broadloom that was woven in China. Designs were mostly sent from the New York office, and at that date, A. & M. Karagheusian maintained a traditional line of Chinese carpets, with darker colours and conventional designs. The Nichols factory had started to use some of the more pastel shades, which were beginning to interest the Karagheusian office at home.
But at the time that Mr. Nazarian was in China, they kept to the conventional colors. Not so conventional is the art deco piece on loom where we see Mr. Nazarian, in his sola topee, supervising the clipping. We are sure that several of our readers would be pleased to be able to have it in their show rooms today.
Peking was about two hours away on the train, and Mr. Nazarian also bought rugs there for A. & M. Karagheusian. Unable to speak Chinese, he would know where to go by asking for different animals; they all had different pets – the goat warehouse – the dog warehouse and so on. On the whole, Mr. Nazarian found Tientsin dull – more like a frontier town – where there was much drinking and gambling. Summers were spent in Pei’taho, just south of where the Great Wall of China comes down to the sea.
In 1930, Mr. Nazarian was asked to go to Hamadan, Iran. Those were Stalinist days, and for complicated reasons of visa regulations, he had to overshoot Russia (on the Trans-Siberian Railroad), go to Poland, where he had a rather dramatic exit, and travel on to Iran via train to Baku. From there he took a boat to Enzeli, where he greatly enjoyed the watermelons and wiled away the time by listening to his treasured gramaphone (which he had bought at Macy’s for $36.00), a great friend in both China and Iran. Hamadan was then the entrepot, as we know, for tons and tons of carpets. Dozars cost from $16-20 for Mosuls and Lilehans; Sarouks were $3. a square foot. Permanent buyers were few. Buyers came through from France, London and New York.
After a detour to Baghdad, where Mr. Nazarian purchased large quantities of wool for the Karagheusian wool-spinning establishment in New Jersey, he returned to New York. Soon afterward he purchased the Long Island Carpet Co. A. & M. Karagheusian continued to give Mr. Nazarian their custom. Long Island Carpet Co. remained the important part of Mr. Nazarian’s business life until he sold it to Rug Renovating Co. Mr. Nazarian has continued with the Rug Renovating Company as consultant.
A version of this article was first published in April, 1982 in Volume 4, No. 2 of Rug News Magazine.
