Upcoming Events for Non-Members

Radisson Hotel Denver Central
4849 Bannock Street,
Denver, CO 80216

(303) 292-9500

Room Rates: $94 + tax
WIFI and Breakfast Included
Two Queen Beds or One King Bed

ELLEN AMIRKHAN: ARMENIAN SECRETS AND WHY YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW

By the late 19th and early 20th century, many Armenian immigrants were engaged in rug sales, cleaning and repair, achieving near total domination of the oriental rug business. The making, selling and cleaning of oriental rugs was viewed as closely guarded secrets held by a few. Armenian rug cleaners invested tremendous amounts of time and money to learn their craft and naturally wanted to protects their interests. In order to understand this mindset, we have to understand where our forefathers came from and the unspeakable crimes against humanity that they witnessed and endured. Beyond the doom and gloom, growing up in an Armenian rug cleaning plant definitely had its eccentricities. You didn’t know any different so you thought it was normal. Learn to “keep your eye on the overhead”, the Armenian way.

ELLEN AMIRKHAN'S BIO

Since 1980, Ellen Amirkhan has served as president of Oriental Rug Cleaning Co. in Dallas, Texas, a business started by her grandfather in 1911 that specializes in cleaning, repairing, appraising and selling oriental rugs. A Past President of Association of Specialists in Cleaning and Restoration, Ellen holds the designations of Certified Rug Specialist and ISA CAPP. She is a co-developer of the Master Rug Cleaner Program, co-author of A Comprehensive Guide to Oriental and Specialty Rug Cleaning and the video series Unraveling the Riddle of Rug Identification, and serves as an expert witness for the legal profession.

MICHAEL CHRISTIE: THE RUGGIST

Michael Christie is an internationally recognized hand-knotted rug and carpet aficionado, conceptualist, and commentator. A respected stalwart advocate of hand-knotted rugs and carpets, his stern and discerning critiques reflect adherence to quality, craftsmanship, and holistic sustainability as the foundation of a vibrant and prosperous carpet trade. Known widely as ‘The Ruggist’ his writings appear on his own website and social media channels, and in the past have appeared in COVER and HALI Magazines, ECS Nepal, Nepal Carpet Magazine, as well as Rug Insider Magazine; he likewise served as Editor of the latter from 2017 until 2020. Since 2018 he has served as the Brand Ambassador of Handmade Nepalese Carpets for the Nepal Carpet Manufacturer's and Exporter’s Association (NCMEA) and his ongoing fieldwork in the country of Nepal continues to foster both this work and a forward-looking perspective on adapting carpentry to the needs of this era and the future. Christie is also a novice weaver who has researched, designed and built his own upright looms, teaching himself the craft of carpentry in order to better understand the nature of weaving and the role individuals play in the commerce of luxury handicrafts.

theruggist.com

@theruggist

Paul Iskyan

Paul Iskyan has been a Manhasset resident for 60 years. He attended St. Mary’s High School in Manhasset and went to Northeastern University in Boston MA on a full athletic scholarship to play ice hockey. At Northeastern Paul majored in Business Administration and graduated from Northeastern’s five year program in just four years. During his hockey playing days at Northeastern, his teams achieved two major accomplishments. In 1980 they were the first NU team to win the prestigious Beanpot Tournament, College hockey’s oldest and most coveted event. Then in 1982 the same NU team went to the NCAA final four and competed for the national championship in Division 1.

After graduating in 1982 Paul joined his family business and has worked for Rug Renovating (established in 1896) and is currently the President of the company. Rug Renovating is located in East Orange NJ and is the largest and one of most prestigious rug cleaning, repair and restoration organizations in the Country and employs 50 people. Paul has achieved the title of Certified Rug Specialist #55 as recognized by ARCS: Association of Rug Care Specialists.

In addition to running Rug Renovating, Paul also owns and operates a business that sells and installs window film as a certified 3M Prestige Dealer in the tristate area and employs 11 people. The name of the business is; TriState Sun Control Corp.

Finally, Paul is also involved in a startup company called; The Jox Company, which manufactures and sells Athletic and Medical core support compression shorts attached up a back-support belt. Paul and his partner currently hold 3 U.S. patents and international patents.

Paul lost his brother and seven friends in the 9/11/2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. Paul and a handful for friends started a very successful charity and named it Tuesday’s Children with the mission of helping the families who lost a parent on that fateful day. Paul has been an active board member, charity supporter and is the only remaining founder member on the Tuesday’s Children Board of Directors. Paul has worked with other non-profit organizations over the years but Tuesday’s Children holds a special place in his heart.

Paul is married to Pamela Iskyan for 34 years and they have two wonderful and successful children, Jacklyn and Samantha. When not working Paul enjoys playing ice hockey, golf, working out and spending time with friends and family.

Monday - January 16th
Armen: Cleaning Chemistry 2 hours
Ellen: Machine-Made Rugs 1.5 hours
Lunch
Ellen: Review

a) History of Oriental Rugs
b) Dyes
c) What is an Oriental Rug
d) Four Categories of Oriental Rugs/Traditional Persian
e) Where Oriental Rugs Get Their Names
f) Construction
g) Knots and Grading Systems
h) End Finishes
i) Side Finishes
j) Chemical Wash
k) Design Components
h) Dating Rugs
i) Components of Identification/Technical Analysis

Countries Producing Oriental Rugs
a) Iran: Heriz, Sarouk, Kashan, Kerman, Mahal, Tabriz, Meshed, Joshagan, Serab, Bijar, silk rugs

TUESDAY - January 17th
a) Finish Persian rugs from Monday
b) Six Persian single-wefted rugs: Hamadan, Malayer, Senneh, Bakhtiari, Karaja, Lillihan
c) Tribal Rugs: Baluch, Turkoman, Bakhtiari, Afshar, Shiraz

WEDNESDAY - January 18th
Countries Producing Oriental Rugs, con’t
a) Afghanistan
b) China
c) India
d) Pakistan
e) Romania
f) Tibetan
g) Turkish

THURSDAY - January 19th
Countries Producing Oriental Rugs, con’t (if necessary)
Caucasian and Navajo Rugs
Hands-On Technical Analysis—divide into groups
Appraisals—Power Point

FRIDAY - January 20th
Review for written test
Practice rug Identification in the plant with rugs not previously seen
Mock Rug Identification test
Questions, Answers, Problems

SATURDAY - January 21st
9AM-12PM
Written test
Hands-On Identification Test

Ellen Amirkhan: Ellen Amirkhan is a graduate of Texas Woman's University with a Bachelor of Science degree and Southern Methodist University with a Master of Liberal Arts degree. She is President of Oriental Rug Cleaning Co., Inc., in Dallas, Texas, a business started by her grandfather in 1911 that specialized in cleaning, repairing, appraising, and selling oriental rugs.

A past president of the Association of Specialists in Cleaning and Restoration (ASCR) - now the Restoration Industry Association (RIA) - Ellen develops and teaches oriental rug schools for the International Society of Appraisers (ISA) and other recognized groups across the United States and England, and is a co-developer of the Master Rug Cleaner Program.

In addition, she consults and serves as an expert witness for the legal profession. Ellen holds the designations of Certified Appraiser of Oriental Rugs from the International Society of Appraisers (ISA) and the Oriental Rug Retailers of America (ORRA) and Certified Rug Specialist (CRS) from the Association of Rug Care Specialists (ARCS).

Ellen's awards include the RIA Dr. Steven Spivak Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Textile Industry, The ASCR Helen Bradley Distinguished Service Award and The North Texas Chapter of the International Society of Appraisers (NTISA) Ellen Amirkhan Distinguished Service Award.

Robert Mann: Robert owns and operates Robert Mann Rugs Inc. in Denver, Colorado. Established in 1978, RMR Inc. provides cleaning and repair services to retail and wholesale clients throughout the United States, as well as outsourced restorations services provided by its sister company, ATC, in Izmir , Turkey. Robert spent for over 25 years working as a technical consultant in modern rug productions in nearly all the major rug producing countries.

Ellen Amirkhan and Robert Mann are truly world class individuals who love this industry and are working hard to help others continue to grow their own passion for rugs.

Chuck Koshgarian, Koshgarian Rug Cleaning

Don't miss out on this course! It will only be available every other year, you don't want to spend the next 2 years wishing you would've jumped on board sooner!

Jordan King, Oriental Rug Cleaning of Indianapolis

This class consists of two 2-hour sessions and will cover all of the important steps that can make or break your customer experience:

• Learn about your company and what you offer
• Elevator Pitch
• Common Pre-Inspection Conditions
• Terminology: How to Convey Technical Explanations in Layman’s Terms
• Help new customers navigate the rug cleaning process
• How to Make Repeat Customers Continue to Feel Valued
• THE IMPORTANCE OF DOCUMENTATION
• Managing Customer Expectations
• Dealing with Complaints
• Proper Phone Etiquette
• Proper In-Person Etiquette
• Inter-Office Communication

Jennifer Colaco: joined Oriental Rug Cleaning in Dallas, Texas as office manager in 2010, becoming the fourth generation of her family to be involved in the flooring business. Prior to this, she worked in textile project management. Jennifer is Vice-President on the Association of Rug Care Specialist Board (ARCS), a Certified Rug Specialist, and Master Rug Cleaner.

A graduate of Texas A&M University, Jennifer and has spent the majority of her professional career interfacing with customers. Her focus on delivering excellent customer practices for her team led her to create and teach “Effective Communications for Rug Cleaners”, currently offered through ARCS.

Session One – The Cleaning Process

Reviews the basic steps in a “best-practice” rug cleaning, why we do them and some of the most common prevailing methods in application today. While pros and cons of each method are discussed, editorial content is kept out.

• Pre-cleaning Inspection – Why some consider it the most important step in rug cleaning and some of the most common conditions encountered in area rugs.
• Dry soil removal – Why it’s important and ways to do it.
• Washing – From dry cleaning methods to full saturation washing. Each method is discussed covering the why and how as well as the pros and cons.
• Drying – Surveying the most common methods in use today
• Finishing processes – Grooming, browning correction, color correction, etc.

Session Two – Fibers and Chemistry

Covers the basics of the most common fibers and chemicals encountered in area rug care. Topics are discussed generically, avoiding favoritism and bias.

Fibers

• Wool – Why it is the most common rug fiber. How we go from sheep to rug yarn.
• Cotton – Production and application
• Silk – It’s advantages, disadvantages and production
• Bast Fibers – production and uses
• Plastics – Nylon, Olefin, etc.
• Rayon – production and it’s many other names

Chemistry

• Soil – most common types, how they accumulate and implications for cleaning
• Solvents – Polar and Non-polar, volatile and non-volatile and applications for cleaning
• Detergents – what they are and how they work
• The PH scale – What it is, why it’s important and the general PH of specific substances
• Sinner circle

Session Three – Rug ID – Tufted Rugs

A general discussion of tufted rugs and their specific cleaning needs and concerns is followed by a survey of the most common types of tufted rugs encountered, how to identify them and their specific cleaning needs and concerns.

• Tufted rugs – What they are and how they differ from other area rugs
• Tufted rugs made in China
• Tufted rugs made in India
• Custom-tufted rugs
• Machine-tufted rugs

Session Four – Rug ID – Non-tufted rugs

Picks up where we left off. We start with Machine-made rugs and cover how to tell them from hand-made rugs. While hand-made rug ID is not discussed, students are introduced to the basics of where they are made, different construction techniques and the terminology used, building a foundation for future classes. We wrap up with a discussion of some of the most common specialty rugs you will encounter.

• Wilton construction – both traditional and face-to-face variants
• Axminster – both tradition and the Karastan® variants
• Hand-made – piled and non-piled construction, terminology and how to tell them from machine-made rugs
• Specialty rugs – Skins, Shags, craft rugs, etc.

Armen Dohanian: A fourth-generation rug cleaner, Armen's family owns a 100 + year old rug cleaning and restoration business in Boston, Massachusetts. Involved in rug cleaning from an early age, Armen is currently vice­-president of operations at the Oriental Rug Cleaning Company in Dallas, TX, a 103 year old, “full­-service” rug cleaning and restoration company. Mr. Dohanian is an ARCS Certified Rug Specialist (CRS), a certified Master Rug Cleaner and a Woolsafe North America "Fiber Care Specialist" as well as a member of the International Society of Appraisers.