19th-century Beginnings

Hello, I'm Richard Kirishian, the owner and founder of the RugSpa as well as a retailer of fine Oriental carpets (visit our retail rug website here). Our history began 100 years ago, when my grandparents began manufacturing hand-knotted wool Oriental rugs in Sivas, Armenia for export to America and Europe. At the turn of the 20th century, Armenia was a troubled place. Civil wars and starvation drove thousands of Armenians to find new homes in other countries. My grandparents sold all their belongings, including centuries-old treasured rugs made by my ancestors, to pay for passage to the United States, where they started over and continued to make rugs in the traditional styles.

1918 - Kirishian Brothers Open First Retail Shop

In 1918, my father Onnig and his brothers Aroot and Meger opened our family's first retail rug store. The popularity of hardwood floors in the first half of the 20th century created a huge demand for quality area rugs. My family couldn't make them fast enough. We needed new suppliers. My father and his brothers began traveling the world looking for high-quality hand-made rugs to sell in their newly adopted country.

I grew up in the business and was trained by my father, uncles, and other relatives in all aspects of the Oriental rug business. I've dyed, knotted, and woven quite a few rugs myself. I've been a rug importer for over 20 years. Every few years I travel back to Turkey and Armenia and spend a few weeks visiting local rug makers and dealers and surveying local quality and craftsmanship. Like my father and his father before him, I have always been committed to offering my customers the very finest rugs for their money.

New Century: Offering Sales and Cleaning Services via Internet

Over the years, as customers and friends moved away, our store began to get referrals and new customers from faraway cities like Boston, Miami, New York City, Los Angeles, and Houston. Many of these new customers were rug owners looking for help in restoring valuable rugs damaged by their local commercial cleaners. They wanted a knowledgeable rug merchant they could trust and our loyal customers told them about us. As our rug restoration and cleaning business grew, I heard growing numbers of horror stories about damaged and destroyed rugs. Our biggest hurdle was how to get the word out about our rug-cleaning and restoration services. The dawning of the Internet and efficient delivery services like FedEx offered us a way to efficiently and cost-effectively process rug-cleaning and restoration orders around the world. As our nationwide rug-cleaning business has grown, I've continually upgraded our equipment to offer one of the most state-of-the-art professional rug-cleaning operations in the industry.

You can trust us with your fine rugs, even your priceless antiques. Your rugs will be returned to you thoroughly cleaned and beautifully restored. The patterns and colors will be just as vivid as when the rug was unrolled for the very first time. You have my word on it!