EXPRESSING YOURSELF THROUGH YOUR HOME DÉCOR PRESENTS AN OPPORTUNITY to bring both dramatic impact and daily enjoyment to your living space. And choosing an Oriental rug for your statement piece brings to the mix the magic of a craft practiced for thousands of years. Liberty Rugs combines the beauty and culture of the hand-knotted rug with a custom design reflective of an American aesthetic. Over three decades, the company has built a reputation as a resource for unique rugs that match your style, perfectly.
“We’re known for making our own product, with our own designs and colors, as opposed to generically bringing in rugs,” says Jim Rash, chief executive officer of Liberty Rugs. “Our product is all custom-made by us for our market. When you see a rug in someone’s home, you’re not going to be able to order it through other companies. No one else has our rugs, and we’re strictly wholesale; we’re available through select retailers and designers.”
Serving the Atlanta area since 1992, Liberty also works with movie studios, staging companies, decorators and dealers in 10 to 12 southern states, including Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky.
“We’re very fine-tuned wholesalers. Over the last 30 years, we’ve come to understand that the American customer is looking for a more relaxed design,” explains Rash. “We tailor our designs to their preferences. Most of the traditional Persian rugs are very busy; the patterns are very intricate. For example, 99% of our rugs do not have a medallion because the feature forces you to center the rug.”
The company’s approach involves identifying popular motifs and color palettes trending in home décor to form the inspiration for a rug design and adapting them to create the template for a custom product. The design is translated into a graph that provides instructions for weavers in Asia. “We provide them with the wool and a variety of other materials,” says Rash. “It’s a cottage industry in Pakistan, extra income for many families. A weaving class is offered by a master. Both husband and wife work on the rugs.”
The Rash family has been producing rugs for more than 50 years. “My dad introduced me to the rug business when I was 6 years old,” recalls Rash. “I would go to his shop in Pakistan after school and watch him making rugs. I learned everything about the business from him.”
Rash relocated to the United States to attend Baruch College in New York City when he was 18. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and started selling rugs while working for Nabisco. In 1992, he decided that since there were fewer wholesalers in the Atlanta market, the opportunity was greater and made the move south.
Today, Rash’s son, Armand, the third generation in the rug business, carries on the family tradition, working alongside his father. The 25-year-old Georgia native came on board after graduating from the University of Georgia. He handles daily operations, while his father concentrates now on imports and creating new rugs.
“I go oversees three or four times a year,” Rash explains. “I purchase some of our materials at that time, others we buy mainly from the manufacturers.”
Wool is the mainstay used for 90% of the rugs the company produces. Others include bamboo silk, a newer product that’s made by processing the bamboo shoot. When woven into a rug it has a range of colors and rich shimmer that customers desiring a plush look love. “We prefer wool; it’s more durable,” notes Rash. “Bamboo silk hasn’t stood the test of time. Wool is a very forgiving material. It’s been used for thousands of years.”
Liberty contracts with rug makers in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey—each region’s craftspeople have their own style of weaving. The differing techniques are influenced by factors such as body position; whether a weaver stands, sits or crouches dictates the technique. “They’re all using hand knots,” explains Rash. “But it’s the way they’re taught in their culture. It’s very difficult to ask a Pakistani weaver to tie a Turkish knot, which is wrapped differently than what they’ve practiced all their lives. We can tell the difference, but most people can’t—90% of customers only care about the color.”
From Oushak to Agra, Heriz and Tabriz, Liberty offers a wide variety of rugs to a customer base that has evolved to embrace both traditional and contemporary themes over the past 25 years. The company houses a huge inventory of roughly 17,000 rugs in a 34,000-square-foot warehouse in Peachtree Corners, about 25 miles from both Downtown Atlanta and the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
“We’ll visit a private home at the request of a designer or a dealer,” Rash says. “And occasionally a designer will bring a customer to the warehouse to see exactly what they’re buying. But most of the designers we work with are well-versed in the various types of Oriental rugs and are equipped to guide a client through the selection process. They have studied textiles in design school and gain hands-on expertise in the field. We also support them with training, and Gwinnett Technical College has a design program that includes a full lecture that we present here at Liberty.”
The business of imported rugs, whether wholesale or retail, is highly competitive. Liberty Rugs’ unique approach to its product design and customer service enable the company to set itself apart within the industry, garnering it a 95% rate of repeat customers, the majority of which have been clients for 10 years or more. “Providing top-of-the-line service is our priority here at Liberty,” asserts Rash. “We highly value our many designer clients. We guarantee them true wholesale pricing and provide free deliveries for their customers. We don’t get paid until the rug is placed and we know the designer’s client is delighted with their choice. If there’s an issue, they can return it, no harm no foul; it alleviates a lot of issues. At the end of the day, we want everyone to be happy.”
Whether you’re looking to make a statement with imported rugs throughout your new home or planning a refresh with a one-of-a-kind carpet as a centerpiece, sourcing from Liberty Rugs guarantees a unique product of the highest quality, created with your aesthetic in mind. And your designer will thank you for an invaluable industry connection. *
Wendy Swat Snyder is a Charleston-based freelance writer (sweetgrassandgrits.com).
