Rug Journey

The Malik family has lived by the rug trade since 1970. Abdul Majeed Malik began it; his son Nadeem Malik took up the work in 1998; today the third generation — Nadeem's four sons — carries it forward from Houston. For roughly half a century the family supplied galleries, retailers and royal palaces around the world as a wholesale house. Now, for the first time, we bring that same collection directly to your home.

They don't simply sell rugs; they choose them. New hand-knotted pieces are woven to the family's own designs at their own facilities in Lahore, Pakistan — by master Afghan weavers, in wool sourced from New Zealand and Saudi Arabia. Rare vintage and antique rugs are sought out and curated one at a time. Every rug is judged by hand — the wool, the dyes, the knots — before it earns a place, then travels direct from our Houston base to your home, nationwide, with no middlemen in between. Should a rug ever need it, we also offer professional cleaning, repair and restoration as a service.

Explore the full story about Arteverk, visit our Houston showroom, or browse Persian Masterpieces.

From Fleece to Floor

Every stage, by hand.

Every rug begins as raw fleece and a craftsman's patience. This is the journey a hand-knotted piece passes through — spun, dyed, knotted, washed, and finished by hand — the same way the craft has worked for a century, before it ever earns a place in the gallery.

An artisan's hands binding the woven end of a hand-knotted rug
100% Hand-knotted, every piece
1 of 1 Never woven twice
Months On the loom, by hand
  1. An artisan hand-spinning wool into yarn on a traditional spinning wheel
    01
    Hand-spinning

    Raw fleece is sheared, sorted, and hand-spun into yarn on the wheel — each thread carrying the slight irregularity that catches light.

  2. Ground natural dye pigments — earth and plant color prepared by hand
    02
    Natural color

    Color is drawn from the earth — madder root, indigo, walnut husk, pomegranate rind — ground and prepared by hand before a single skein is dyed.

  3. Skeins of wool lifted steaming from a vat of natural dye
    03
    Dyeing

    The yarn is simmered in the dye-bath and lifted out steaming, then sun-dried — the source of the depth and quiet variation you see across the pile.

  4. A traditional rug pattern being charted knot by knot onto a design grid
    04
    Charting the design

    A traditional motif is studied and plotted, knot by knot, into the grid the weavers follow at the loom — old patterns mapped for new hands.

  5. A weaver tying and trimming knots by hand on the loom with a curved knife
    05
    Weaving & the Taalim

    Knot by knot, row by row, tied by hand against the warp and trimmed with the curved knife. A reader chants the taalim — the loom's spoken language — and the weavers answer in knots, passed by voice from master to apprentice. Months of it for a single rug.

    The heart of the craft
  6. Finished rugs washed by hand with wooden brushes on the wash floor
    06
    Hand-washing

    The finished pile is washed by hand and sun-dried, settling the color and softening the wool.

  7. Hands binding the fringe and securing the edge of a hand-knotted rug
    07
    Zinjiri & Kinara

    The ends are secured with the traditional zinjiri chain-stitch so the weave can never unravel, and the side cords — the kinara — are bound by hand to frame and protect the edges.

  8. Hand-shears trimming the fringe of a finished hand-knotted rug
    08
    Rafoo & finishing

    The final pass: rafoo, hand-trimming and invisible mending, until the piece is ready to outlast a generation — and only then does it travel to Houston.

The List

See the next one the moment it lands

Each finished piece is one of one. New arrivals are quietly emailed — never sold twice.