When you spend real money on a rug, you deserve to know exactly what you are buying. Most rug sellers blur the line between a genuine hand-knotted piece and a machine-made copy, or call a new rug “Persian” because it borrows a Persian pattern. We do the opposite. Honesty is the whole point of Arteverk — it is the one thing a discounter cannot copy, so we put it in writing.
What we guarantee on every piece
- Genuinely hand-knotted means hand-knotted. If a rug is listed as hand-knotted, it was tied knot by knot by hand on a loom — never power-loomed or machine-made. Our small number of machine-made and flat-woven pieces are labeled plainly as what they are and kept in their own clearly marked collections, never mixed in with the hand-knotted gallery.
- One of one. Every hand-knotted Arteverk rug is the only one of its kind. When it sells, it is gone — there is no “second one in the back.”
- Honest provenance. We describe where a rug was actually made, not just the tradition its pattern comes from. A pattern name (Heriz, Tabriz, Oushak, Kazak) describes a design lineage; it is not a claim about the country of origin. A new rug woven in Afghanistan or Pakistan in a Persian style is described as exactly that — not sold to you as an antique Persian piece.
- Genuine vintage and antiques are genuinely old. When we call a rug vintage, antique, or a masterpiece, it really is — overwhelmingly genuine Persian pieces (woven in Iran), curated from private collections and trusted sources over three generations.
- Materials as described. Wool is wool; wool and silk is wool and silk. We don’t pass off viscose or “bamboo silk” as the real thing.
- Inspected and restored by hand in Houston. Before a rug earns a place, our team judges, cleans, and repairs it by hand in our Houston workshop.
Who stands behind it
Arteverk is a third-generation family business — the Malik family — who have lived by the rug trade since the 1970s, first in Lahore and now in Houston, Texas. Our role is to source the finest materials, commission and support skilled village and workshop weavers, curate genuine vintage and antique pieces, and restore and care for every rug by hand. We are honest about that role: the weaving of our new lines is done by master artisans we partner with, and our antique and vintage pieces are curated, not newly made. Read our full story.
Your satisfaction is guaranteed too
A rug is a decade-long decision, so we make it low-risk:
- 30 days to be sure. You have 14 days from delivery to start a return and up to 30 days to send the rug back, and we cover return shipping with a prepaid label. See our full return policy.
- See it first. Local to Houston? Walk on any piece in natural light at our showroom before you commit. Visit us.
- Cared for, for life. We clean, repair, and restore rugs by hand — the ones we sell and the ones you already own. Cleaning & restoration.
Giving back
Since 2020, Arteverk has supported the Human Welfare Association. Part of the value of every rug goes further than your floor.
Questions about a specific piece? Read our FAQ, see the care guide, or email us — we’ll tell you exactly what you’re looking at.