Brian Robins and Rebecca Lurie, owners of Kush Hand-Knotted Carpets, have just opened a second location inside Rejuvenation.On a quiet corner of Southeast Hawthorne, stories pile up.
Stories of culture and history, tradition and geography.
Stories that take the shape of hand-knotted carpets.
The stories live at Kush, a gallery of rugs owned and run by Rebecca Lurie and Brian Robins, and, this month, have taken on life at a second location at Rejuvenation on Southeast Grand Avenue.
Lurie found one story so compelling, she e-mailed me with the spectacular tale:
A picture of a Persian rug inspired one woman to plant a garden in the same design as the carpet. It still haunted her, though, and she went on a hunt to find the actual centuries-old rug, in hopes of buying it. She found it in the hands of a curator at London's V&A Museum -- but it was not for sale. That prompted her to call Lurie seeking an exact-as-possible replica.
But the client, who lives in London, did not know the name of the rug that she'd originally spied in a book -- or much else.
"It took a lot of work to figure out what she wanted, what the rug was," Lurie says, sitting on a stack of hand-knotted carpets in the middle of the spare but striking gallery.
With the help of a Iranian colleague who lives in London, they were able to trace the rug, known as "The Spring of Khosrow," back to its source -- Kurdish weavers in western Iran. They commissioned a new rug to be woven by weavers in the same part of Iran, which is now Azerbaijan, Lurie says.
"She wanted the soul of the rug. Same wools, same weavers -- in terms of ethnicity -- same family," Lurie says. "Incredible process, down to the very end."
Not all the carpets' stories are as complex. Many are about the materials, the region or origin, and the families who continue the tradition of hand-knotting rugs.
Both Lurie and Robins got into the rug business because they needed work.
Lurie worked for Christiane Millinger, a longtime expert in the world of handmade rugs, and co-owner of Madison Millinger rugs in the Pearl District.
Robins got his start by answering an ad for a rug washer. That was his introduction to another rug expert, James Opie.
They both agree that no matter how long you're in the business, there is always something new to learn. And like any good rug dealer, they pass that knowledge on to their customers, who, every day, Robins says, ask: How do you tell a good rug?
"When you look at a well-made rug, it speaks to you in a different way," Lurie says. They look for color movement and depth, she says.
Running his hand over one example, Robins shows how the rug's center panel is generally one tone but goes from very light to dark and everything in between.
"In rugs, it is called 'abrash' and it is something Rebecca and I look for in rugs. Otherwise it looks like it was stamped out by machine."
Lurie says the transition in the color indicates the wool's been hand-spun, which contributes to the strength of the wool. Machine-spinning wools, then bleaching or working them to create consistency in color, strips the wool of its strength.
"I think when you've looked at a lot of rugs, you start to recognize the good ones," Robins says. "You have to educate yourself ... observe as much as you can."
Both Lurie and Robins say it is not unusual for customers to come in thinking they want a traditional Oriental rug and leave with something entirely different.
"It's a journey, a process," Lurie says.
As is the business, which Lurie labels "nonconventional."
"You don't have to scratch too far to see that it's still very personal. There's a lot of handshake deals, a lot of negotiating all around."
They both say that whether they are working in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey or here, what they find is that people want the same thing: a home, stability, income.
"They want to do business with us," Robins says, adding that they have found there is rarely a mention of politics.
"It's always an adventure," says Lurie, who does the majority of the traveling. "It's fun."
And filled with stories.
And filled with stories.
-- Bridget A. Otto
SPECIAL PROJECT: Kush sends half of the purchase price of special textiles to the Progressive Women's Association in Pakistan to help end violence against women there. Read more here.
