Frank Michaelian, grandfather of the current owner of M&K Rugs, started making carpets in India in the 1950s, and we at M&K have been involved with carpet weaving there ever since. The art of rug weaving was brought to India in the 17th century by the Moghuls who migrated from an area of what is now Afghanistan. Carpets back then were reserved exclusively for royalty and it was not until the British colonized India in the 18th Century that carpets were made commercially for export. Unfortunately, by the 1970s, carpet weaving had become so commercialized and the rugs had so little personality that the industry was nearly dead.
