I went to Turkey, where I shipped myself some prize pieces from my friend in the Grand Bazaar, Turgay Boztepe (The Anatolian Carpet Shop). Then visited my great grandmother in the north of Turkey (that is one long trip). And then went on south to my old digs: Club Med near Kemer, Turkey (I worked there long ago).

In the meantime, my son got a job in Manhattan as a search engine optimizer (and marketer) … which means he will have much less time to work for me! Oh well, he had to go his own way at some point. Anyway, now that I am back, I have been busy working on a improving the networking of our partner websites, beyondthebosphorus.com, anatoliancarpet.com, and carpetondemand.com. I have a new website in the works, for which I require the help of my ever-patient son.

We have also decided to make a few changes with our business operations. With the cost of fuel so ridiculously high, it has become less and less cost efficient to travel via van (full of carpets) to people’s homes. Although it is a great service that we provide and that many - especially in remote areas - appreciate, we will be cutting down on the amount of travel outside of New England. We will target places like Nantucket, The Hamptons (and the rest of Long Island), and New York City. For this we are launching a new website soon, that my son will be working to promote with his great SEO skills.

So it is good to be back. Hope I did not miss much. Please leave comments if you have anything you have wanted to say!

We have officially formed a partnership, whereby Carpet on Demand will provide at-home service to any customers within New York and Long Island for no extra cost.

The worst part is that these web site get ranked quite well in some search engines. Google is doing what it can to stop it, but when I searched for Oriental carpets on Technorati today, here is what I saw:

When you see one of these in your search results, here is where you go:

For Google search results: http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html

For Yahoo! search results: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/search/spam_abuse.html

“I don’t mean to rude sir, but if you continue to do that your industry is going to get a reputation for fair dealing.”

My son was around Oriental rugs throughout his childhood while growing up in Turkey. He knows when something is different in a rug. And that Chinese-made rug had many things differences about it that he could see for himself.

Personally, I don’t have a problem with Chinese-made Oriental rugs. It is normal that cheaper labor is sought out in places like China. Of course, I do not agree with their labor practices, but I feel that way about carpets made anywhere else. What I do have a problem with is those who sell these carpets pretending they are authentic. So for all first-time Oriental Carpet buyers out there, I would like to tell you a little about Chinese-made Oriental rugs, so that you may have a better chance of identifying one.

Here are some very basic characteristics that immediately give them away.

1. Color

You will find colors in a Chinese-made rug that you have seen nowhere else: Elvis blue, Hello Kitty pink, and 100% pure Tropicana orange.

2. Workmanship

Much like a car factory, Chinese-made Oriental pile carpets are fabricated in an assembly line fashion. The same carpet is made by 20 people at the same time. They all tie the same knot at the same time, all directed by a supervisor, with a plot of the carpet. He yells out a color and they all tie that knot. When they get to the end a blade comes down, cuts the pile then it gets packed down similarly with a comb. The workers just have to stay clear of the blade and comb.

In the end the pile is not very closely cut, so you end up with a very thick carpet, and one that is packed down very hard.

3. Design

A popular design to copy - among others - are the Turkish Hereke silk carpets. These rugs, with their fine knotting are very rarely made today, and if so, are not knotted as finely. When made in China, the silk used is of inferior quality (this is a euphemism). Just like a cat’s hair falls out, so does the silk used in these carpets. TO AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

So where will you find these carpets? Most whole sellers in Manhattan carry these. Now whether they always tell the truth about the origin of these masterpieces is what is important here. Because, frankly, if a customer asks me for a cheap rug that will fall apart in a few years, I would suggest to them to purchase a Chinese rug. However, never will I pass one off as an authentic piece of work.

To give a few major names, I have seen these carpets at ABC and the ultimate source for authentic handmade carpets, Bloomingdales.

In 1949 the Chinese invaded Tibet, and inadvertently changed the modern history of Oriental carpets. Before then, Tibetans made rugs for their own uses, which often involved religious ceremonies. There was little, if any, commerce in new Tibetan rugs outside Tibet (though today the oldest rugs from Tibet are among the most desirable to collectors). The Chinese invasion forced thousands of Tibetans to flee, and many who survived the journey out of the mountains took weaving skills with them to Nepal and India, where they established carpet industries to support themselves. In Nepal, no carpet industry had existed before the Tibetan refugees created one[…]

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What is interesting to note is Ismael’s deftness at speaking about the price of anything in his store. He is a former Grand Bazaar salesman who moved to the US about 25 years ago, but he is still the same. Enjoy.