A hand-woven rug is a one-of-a-kind, heirloom purchase that increases in value over time.
Azmat Oriental Rugs has been in business in Conway for 10 years. Owner Khalid Azmat Shaikh operates the business at 714 Locust Avenue.
Shaikh, a native of Pakistan, graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in the late 1970s with his master’s degree. At the time, his friends here asked him, when he traveled home to Pakistan, if he could get some rugs for them. He began shipping a few, and that is when he first began to think of going into the business. After graduation, he moved to Pakistan for a time, and when he returned to Conway, people still wanted rugs.
Later he lived in the Netherlands for 10 years, where he was in the textile business. He imported and distributed rugs there. He and his family returned to Conway in 1997.
“When I moved back here, I felt like Conway could use an Oriental rug store,” he said.
In addition to selling rugs, Azmat Oriental Rugs cleans, repairs, and appraises rugs. They also trade and consign rugs, Shaikh said.
“There’s a misconception about the value of rugs,” he said. “The rugs don’t cost too much if you’re aware” of what goes into making them and how long they last.
He noted he sells antique rugs. Rugs do not become antique until they are about 80 years old, he said.
One of the antiques is circa 1860, he said. It likely sold for $250 to $300 when it was new, and today it is worth $25,000 to $30,000.
“You’re buying art. This is woven art. It’s an heirloom product. The value of that product will hold. Intrinsic value – you can’t really put a price on it. It’s in concept similar to a quilt woven by your great-great grandmother that is priceless.”
He also commissions weavers to create program rugs, which are more affordable but still hand-woven. Machine-made rugs do not retain their value over time as hand-woven rugs do, he noted.
In appraising rugs, Shaikh said he researches the value by looking in a database. He can also work with an antique dealer for the information if the rugs are “very exclusive” and there is no information in the database.
“We look at color, age, condition, country of origin, market values of today, as well as replacement value,” he said.
Shaikh said when customers are remodeling, they can bring in color samples, cushions from their furniture, etc., to help them choose a rug, or they may have one custom-made to complement their décor.
Shaikh also deals in marble, granite, and quartz out of his shop on Locust Avenue. Marbella is the name of his marble business. While living in Pakistan, he worked with the finest white marble, he said. Part of his job was to quarry stones and process them into slabs and tiles.
He works with homeowners on their vision for their kitchen or bathroom, he said. He has also done commercial work in Little Rock. In Conway, he made the countertops in the Conway Symphony Designer House, he said.
On the rug side of the business, Shaikh designed the Centennial rug for Wingo Hall at the University of Central Arkansas. Former president Lu Hardin commissioned the rug and wrote Shaikh a letter of thanks.
“To me, that rug is a masterpiece, because it took us about 10 months,” Shaikh said. He noted the design was created based on architectural designs on campus, incorporating the bears, and leaves of ginkgo plants that can be found on campus.
Weaving is a trade handed down through generations, Shaikh said.
“This is a skillful art. These people have worked their whole life into it.”