How the rug industry came into our lives..

My father Necat KARYÜZ, who was the original founder of our company, initially earned his living by running urban passenger transportation in Malatya, where we resided between 1970 and 1980. In the late 80’s, my father’s nephew contacted him offering a great business opportunity. At the time, his nephew, who was a rug businessman in Antalya, expressed his displeasure for having to purchase rugs from other sellers, and instead, wished to produce his own rugs. His offer to my father was to realise rugs for his business, a lucrative trade yet not free of its own challenges. The idea of making rugs that are a part of the Turkish patrimony which not only beautify the home but also paint a rich and vivid image of the beauty and diversity of the Turkish culture that my father loved so much encouraged him to start the production of rugs without hesitation.

Our venture into the carpet business

It all started with my father selling one of his two minibuses at the time. Meanwhile, Kayseri carpets were produced. My father hired 45-50 women who hand-wove original rugs. The workshop contained 20 looms and started the production of rugs in Malatya, which were then sent to my father’s nephew who, in turn, sold them. And so our rug-weaving adventure began. Back then, the majority of rugs that were sent were sold to the German market as retail. But it wasn’t always smooth sail for my father as after the first semester, it was impossible to maintain business due to a commercial dispute between him and his nephew. Therefore, my father made the unfortunate decision to close his business.

Legacy to the sons

Mehmet KARYÜZ (Mehmet Abim), worked at the workshop between the ages of 10 and 12 during the time it was active. He still has fond memories of those days. When my father came to the decision of quitting the craft of carpet-making, my brother wanted to pursue it. But as every business is met with hardship and challenge, Mehmet only worked for a short time before he had to stop the production of hand-woven rugs as it demanded a large capital. However, he loved and embraced the carpet business so much and he didn’t want to give up on it, and so he launched into the exchange and restoration of olden rugs. The idea came about when some people came into the workshop wanting to sell old hand-woven rugs while others wanted to buy new ones. Inspired by that, my brother decided to buy, restore and then sell hand-woven rugs. My brothers Mehmet and Burhan would buy the rugs from villagers and later sell them to companies in Istanbul after restoration. The craft is more than a mere restoration, it is the process of reviving authentic handmade historical artifacts that are at least 20 years old, some being up to 100. We put effort and special care into restoring each rug for every single one is unique and can never be recreated. Meanwhile, my father never quite quit the carpet business as he traded and repaired rugs in his shop at the bazaar. In their free-time from school, my brothers would assist at the shop and learn how to repair hand-woven rugs.

They had a purpose…

Under the conditions of that time, they tried to continue the business by repairing small hand-woven kilim and rugs in the shop. But we had a large family. My father used the following expressions while describing this period; “I have 7 children and 5 of them are boys. We had to have a job where my children could earn money with their own labor and continue after me. I had 2 vans but had 5 boys. Driving vans was not going to give my children a craft to earn a living and a good future. I switched to the rug business because I wanted to enable my sons to trade (learn the trade) and learn the craftsmanship of hand-woven rugs and kilims. My goal was to leave a good job and profession to my children for the future.” Having these thoughts, my father's commitment to rug business continued to increase. However, it was not possible to develop this trade and move it forward in Malatya. Because there was a small market and standard jobs. They could only make a living with what they earned.

They followed a dream…

They continue on their way by working day and night with the same tempo without losing their determination when they first came to Istanbul. The fact that the shop is on the street increases customer circulation. Moreover, it begins to affect the size of the business. They manage to attract the attention of foreign tourists and even start selling products to them. This success even enables them to acquire wholesale customers from abroad. In this way, they take their business to the next level.

Difficulties did not deter them..

In Istanbul, where they come to work, they first knock on an uncle's door. The situation of the uncle, who was also a carpet maker, was not suitable for them to work and support them. They keep trying without giving up. They go to their villagers who have a carpet repair shop and ask for a job. So they get their first job. But they think they need to work harder for a better future. For this reason, they continue to work in the carpet repair shop on the weekends, and they also get extra work in the evenings and start working at home. At the end of fifty days, Mehmet Abim rents and furnishes a house with the money he earns. In this way, he takes his wife and me with him. They continue to work at the same tempo for a long time.

Now, it's time..

My brother Erkan joined my brothers Mehmet and Burhan. They work day and night as long as they can. At the end of the 90s, they started to reap the fruits of this intense work and set up their own workshops. As they work, things increase and the workshop begins to grow. They take 1-2 more employees with them. Although they give the majority of their earnings to the employees, their dreams are bigger than a workshop. In 1999, they decided to rent the shop on the street (Sultan Ahmet Square), where we continue to work today. Even though it is a big risk to move to the shop, which is worth 3 times the rent of the current workshop, they do not give up on their dreams.

Turning risk into opportunity..

In 2003, a great opportunity is seized. That year is the year of innovations in the sector. Patchwork Kilims, which are made by cutting and reassembling carpets, are released. Even though they've never done it before, or even if they haven't seen how it's done, they get to work with the great support of my brother Mehmet's wife. They immediately turn the ground floor of the new shop into a workshop. Even if it is beyond their means, they still take risks and acquire all the necessary tools for this job. R & D work is carried out for two months. They find the products to be used, the sewing that needs to be done, the fabric to be used on the back, everything by trying from scratch. At the end of two months, the final product is reached. With the work of only family members, that is, they start to produce 10-12 square meters of products per day with 3 people. But they took a big risk. They roll up their sleeves to turn this risk into an opportunity. The product is new and unique. There are very big players in the industry. They trust the product very much and do not want it to be copied. Because they do not have the power to enter into great competition. A secret agreement is made with one of the shopkeepers of the Grand Bazaar and one of the shopkeepers of the Arasta Bazaar before the product is marketed. Even consignment products are sent to the company by hiding them in sacks. These tradesmen secretly sell these products for more than 2 years without showing them to other tradesmen. The product is never put on display. In this way, they move fast by turning risk into opportunity.

A system that grows from a small workshop and works to the world..

Now things are in order. Raw products from Malatya continue to be processed quickly, not from the hidden small workshop downstairs, but in our new workshop suitable for our work, together with our new colleagues. I am included in the system in every vacancy I found from school at that time. The capacity of our workshop has increased from 10 square meters to 100 square meters per day. The number of employees working with our family has exceeded 10. This system, which we established in Istanbul, now begins to exceed the borders of Istanbul. They take their first steps in 2004 to become a company that is no longer just sitting in its shop waiting for customers from abroad, but a company that shows up in big fairs abroad. 600,700, even 1,000 square meters of product sales were reached at one time. However, this speed slows down at the end of 2006 and almost comes to a standstill. It is considered outdated. But that can't stop us. In this period when we gained our innovative vision, when the year comes to 2008, this time Carpet Patchwork production and sales begin. Production accelerates again in our workshop, where all production stages are already available. 80% of the sales made in those years were abroad. By expanding the team working in 2009, it continued to work without breaking its tempo until 2017. Between this time period, we participated in at least 3-4 fairs per year. These fairs took place in Germany, France, America and Singapore.

Istanbul was a restricted area for production..

As our commercial volume expanded, our working areas had to evolve as well. However, in the region we are in Istanbul, this was very difficult. Being scattered in different regions made our job very difficult. In 2017, I received signals that we could no longer grow in Istanbul. The carpet washing business we established in Istanbul was 500 square meters in size and could not respond to all our works. For this reason, we were having 2 more businesses do the washing. As we got older, we couldn't fit into shops and workshops. I shared this prediction with my brothers. We discussed this issue for about 2 months. I predicted that if we could not respond to incoming requests, things could go backwards. After long discussions and conflicts, we bought the factory we are in at the end of 2017, in the Father's Hearth, in Malatya. We have transformed from 600-700 square meters of shops to a 5,000 square meter business, 3,000 square meters of which is closed.

Production Center became Malatya.

We evaluated the large area and capacity here. We have combined production workshops and washing into one facility here. It was a big investment for us and we couldn't afford to fail. That's why we worked hard, as always. We have expanded our product range. We were now able to produce and develop more easily. Although we have a shortage of qualified personnel, we have established our staff over time. Of course, we have developed our e-commerce systems in order to increase our location and to appeal to the world market. We have established our teams to work in this direction. Although the pandemic has disrupted fair organizations in these days as we enter the 5th year, we have also spent the pandemic period growing thanks to the e-commerce systems we have established. Currently, we continue our sales in many marketplaces and on our own website.

Don't stop, keep walking..

We think that in order to be successful, we must always be different and of higher quality. We always come up with something different and we do not compromise on our quality. We maintain our product standards. This is actually what keeps us ahead of other companies. In this way, we are still able to work with customers we met years ago. We have customers that we haven't seen in 4-5 years. But our shopping never stops. Because, in addition to the respect and honesty we show to our work, we continue our work in a structure that constantly renews and develops ourselves both in terms of technology and as a product. That's why we can now trade with America, which is 10,000 km away. We continue our investments in Malatya Organized Industrial Zone, where we are located.