Upcoming Events for Non-Members

Friday, November 5th

8:30 AM – 6 PM: We’ll begin with a visit to the Thomas McCormick Gallery for a seminar on and viewing of his collection of Saltillo Sarapes along with plenty of time for questions. We’ll also get to visit with him about his adventures in antique picking, rugs and art. We’ll have lunch afterwards and then head over to Teddy Varndell’s textile mill where he will show all of his great old textile machines hard at work along, many of which are 100 years old! We will also get to see natural dye demonstrations. Our last stop will be Teddy’s shop for happy hour where we get to check out his rug and textile inventory.

Saturday, November 6th

8:30 AM – 1 PM: We will start our morning with a trip to Minasian Rug Care for a visit to their wash facility and excellent rug showroom. We will then head over to Heirloom Oriental Rug Specialists to visit Roberto Mora and see his day-to-day rug cleaning operations! Lunch and dinner at your leisure.

This is such a rare opportunity and only 20 spots are available! We hope you can join us! Sign up today!

Price includes transportation to and from each location noted above, lunch, and happy hour on Friday only.

Roberto Mora’s rug cleaning plant

Heirloom Oriental Rug
2027 Johns Drive, Unit A
Glenview, IL 60025
heirloomorientalrugspecialist.com

Teddy Vandell’s Textile Mill & Shop
2101 N. Monitor
Chicago, IL 60639

Thomas McCormick Gallery
835 West Washington Blvd
Chicago, IL 60607
thomasmccormick.com

Hyatt Regency Chicago
151 East Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60601
Room Rate: $169
Phone: (312) 565-1234

Monday 
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 
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     
Countries Producing Oriental Rugs, con’t 
a)  Afghanistan 
b)  China 
c)  India 
d)  Pakistan 
e)  Romania 
f)  Tibetan 
g)  Turkish

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

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

SATURDAY 
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

Friday March 11, 2022 - Day 1

ARCS’s “Practical Dye Removal for the Rug Washer” course is a good primer on a complex subject. Ben did a great job explaining the principals and practical application of the most commonly encountered bleaches used in our industry. Those applications were then demonstrated at work in multiple real-world scenarios, not just “ideal” situations. Balancing risk versus reward, Mr. Knause walked students through an experienced professional’s thought process and approach to each problem. Participants were then given ample opportunity to practice with each product under the watch of an experienced cleaner, allowing them to get a better handle on the use of each type of product. This class will shorten the learning curve of anyone getting into color correction and is a must-attend course for any experienced cleaner who wants to know more about the subject.
Armen Dohanian - Oriental Rug Cleaning Co.

Information to come.

Information to come.

Information to come.

Information to come.

Feedback to come following event

Galleries to come following event

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.