Behind Every Rug Is A Story

The next installment of the Southampton History Museum’s “Southampton’s Gilded Age” summer lecture series will feature Hans Boujaran, the owner of Boujaran Rugs on Main Street in Southampton, discussing the stories woven into the elaborate patterns of antique rugs.

For Mr. Boujaran—a designer of rugs who draws his inspiration from his world travels—his history working with antique rugs is a story in itself.

“When I was a teenager, my mother showed me how to do tapestry work. It was a way to keep me at home and stay out of trouble because I was growing up during a revolution in Iran,” Mr. Boujaran said. His first piece took him 11 months to finish.

“And when I saw the finished product I was just amazed at the beauty of the dyes and the patterns—it all has to be exact.”

In Iran, Mr. Boujaran said, the rug is the centerpiece of an entire home. People flock to celebrate the purchase of a new rug like one would do with a new car in the driveway. “We’d look at the material. Is it silk? Is it wool? How many lines does it have? I learned all of this just by osmosis.”

Mr. Boujaran took what he knew from a lineage of weavers in his family and employed himself restoring antique rugs to pay for his collegiate education studying computer science in New York. He went on to an early career at IBM for five years—and hated it.

“I wasn’t happy with the computer world. I sat in an office and was cooped up, and there was this artistic side of me still burning,” he said.

Instead, he decided to restore and sell antique rugs.

“I knew nothing about selling rugs, and boy, it was a rude awakening,” Mr. Boujaran said. He jumped feet first into running his own business, investing in quality merchandise where he could. Sometimes items that cost thousands of dollars sat on the shelf for years.

“I read books on selling to learn how, but my customers always saw right through me. Most of them wrote those books. My clientele was the chief financial officers of top organizations. They’re gods of negotiation. My sales tricks weren’t going to work,” Mr. Boujaran said. “One of them told me a sentence that resonated with me: ‘Sales means to serve.’ From there I chose to just sell rugs with a smile because I love my work and that’s the best way I can serve my customer.”

Overseas, Mr. Boujaran found the materials and designs necessary to re-create old masterful works with modern twists. He had began importing wool, vegetable dye and talent from the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan.

“When you look at the rugs, many of the designs come from things that they saw in their everyday life: Islamic mosques and geometric arts; floral designs and inspirations from nature. I have been to Europe in Italy, Spain and France, too. I think merging the East and the West is a beautiful thing.”

Now, after 22 years of business in Southampton, 95 percent of the works on display and for sale in his shop are of his own design, drawing from European influences and traditional patterns.

The lecture begins at 4 p.m. at Rogers Mansion at 17 Meeting House Lane on Thursday, August 9. Admission is $10, or free to Southampton History Museum members.