Our Story · Since 1970

In 1970, one man in a small Punjab town went into the rug trade.

His name was Abdul Majeed Malik. Pakistan was then one of the great rug-exporting nations of the world, and he meant to be part of it — sourcing the wool, and washing, finishing and shipping the rugs himself. He had no showroom and no name. He had the work, and the belief that the work would speak. Fifty years later, it still does — and for the first time, it speaks directly to you.

1970
Sangla Hill, Pakistan

It begins with Abdul Majeed Malik — sourcing wool, producing, washing and finishing rugs by hand, and exporting them to the world. In time, he moves the work to Lahore.

Aerial view of hundreds of hand-knotted rugs drying in the sun at the Malik family workshop
1998
Lahore

His son, Nadeem Malik, takes over. He builds the family’s finishing and distribution house in Lahore — the one still running today.

2001
Attock, Pakistan

Nadeem opens a full weaving plant of our own. The collection grows from its Bokhara roots into the great reproduction weaves — Ziegler, Kazak, Chobi and Peshawar — tied by master Afghan weavers from the finest wool, sourced in New Zealand and Saudi Arabia.

Hands tying knots on the loom with a traditional hook while weaving a hand-knotted rug
2007
Washington, D.C.

The family comes to the United States, settling near Washington — three decades of the trade carried across the ocean.

2016
In memory

Abdul Majeed Malik passes. The work he started does not.

2017
Chantilly, Virginia

We open a U.S. warehouse and distribution house, and begin — quietly — to sell directly to the people who live with our rugs.

The Malik family rug showroom and distribution house in Chantilly, Virginia — hand-knotted rugs rolled and stacked across the floor with rugs displayed on the walls
2021
Houston, Texas

We make Houston home, and open the showroom where you can walk the whole collection in person.

Inside the Arteverk Houston showroom — rows of one-of-a-kind hand-knotted rugs in the gallery
Today
The third generation

Today, Nadeem’s four sons — Hashim, Hadi, Moosa and Isa — carry the trade forward, across the United States and overseas. Fifty years on, we are doing what the family never did before: bringing these rugs straight to you, with no one in between.

Three generations of the Malik family — Abdul Majeed Malik, his son Nadeem Malik, and grandson Hashim Malik — at the family rug business in Pakistan
Three generations — Abdul Majeed, Nadeem and Hashim Malik.
art work Arteverk

A hand-knotted rug is art — made entirely by hand. And it is work — tens of thousands of knots, tied one at a time by people who have done it their whole lives. Both words live in every rug we make. Both live in our name.

We make our own hand-knotted lines, and we curate a smaller selection of genuine vintage and antique pieces. We will always tell you exactly what a rug is and where it was made. Every one ships from our Houston showroom, nationwide — and you’re welcome to visit, or to walk the collection with us over a video call from anywhere.

— Hashim, Hadi, Moosa & Isa Malik

Watch · The Film

How a rug becomes one of one.

Inside the craft — from hand-spun wool and natural dyes to the final knot, the way the Malik family have made rugs for three generations.

Filmed at the Malik family workshop