Persian & Oriental Rug Sourcing
Little-Persia stock Scotland's largest collection of handmade rugs from all over Iran (Persia), India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and Turkey. In our collection are rugs from the size of a small door-mat to rugs and runners 16ft long; wool, silk, kilims, gabbehs and everything in between. However, no matter how many rugs we have there will always be some customers who we do not cater for in our existing stock, or clients looking for something out of the ordinary (that is more out of the ordinary than usual!). For these people we can discuss their needs, take a brief and find them the perfect rug.
Stages of rug sourcing:
1. Consultation
2. The Search
3. Quotes
4. Agreement
5. Delivery
6. Purchase
A clear understanding of what a client is looking for is of utmost importance when sourcing a rug; the margins in length and width that are available, the colours or colour scheme, preferred pattern and designs and of course budget have to be established before the legwork can begin.
The best way to do this is to come in-store, otherwise going through our website looking at rugs in all shapes an sizes to establish a style and colour that you like is a great starting point. If you really like a rug on our site that is perhaps sold, too small, too large or in the wrong colour there's a good chance we'll be able to find what you're looking for. The same applies if you have an image of a rug from elsewhere and wish for us to find one similar to it in your size and colours. Some customers simply want us to replace their old or damaged rug with something similar.
Once an understanding of the requirements are reached we make contact with our agents and suppliers around the Middle-East as well as suppliers in London, Germany and the US. We relay the information that we have been given to these suppliers and if they have anything in their current stock, or in the case of our agents, if they can find something which may suit they will us details and images of the rug or rugs.
This process can take a matter of days to several weeks depending on the difficulty of the criteria for finding the rug (including working within budgets or unusual sizes) and urgency of the project.
As we receive feedback and details of rugs we will pass them on straight away with details of size and cost as well as as many images as we can gather. Many rugs may be rejected by the client before the perfect one is found but this stage is important to gain further feedback to perhaps refine the search criteria - finding a rug can often be a cyclical process.
Once a rug is found that matches the clients requirements and budget an agreement can be reached. Depending on where the rug is located there can be significant costs associated with bringing the rug to Glasgow (or to wherever the client is based), in addition to this it is often not possible to return the rug to the supplier therefore in order to bring the rug over we usually charge a deposit of 15-25% up front. This deposit is non-refundable if the client decide they do not want the rug once it arrives, however, the money can be used as credit for buying a rug from our existing stock.
We will generally have the rug air freighted in unless it is a small piece in which case a courier such as DHL or Fed Ex will be used. Importing rugs generally incur import fees, import duty and VAT - another reason why we need to charge a deposit.
We can have the rug delivered to our Glasgow gallery or send it straight to the clients' door. The rug can be taken away from the gallery (or if delivered to the house) and viewed on trial.
Once the customer is happy the remaining balance is paid. We accept most forms of payment from cheques and cash to cards and bank transfers. If the rug does not fit with the room as intended then it is returned to Little-Persia. As stated before, we will not ask for the balance for the rug and the value of the deposit can be used as credit towards another rug.
Here we will illustrate one of the major rug sourcing projects we have carried out for a client here in Scotland:
A client in Edinburgh required a mammoth 9m x 6.5m rug to replace their existing carpet; to put that into perspective that is almost 60m2 or ten 3x2m rugs. The size had to be within around a foot of the above measurements in each direction and when it comes to rugs of this size it is not the easiest to find something so specific.
We were able to go and view the room the rug was intended for and gain a sense of the colours and designs which might work along with discussing with the client their hopes and requirements and getting a sense for the budget they had in mind.
Weeks of searching brought a number of alternatives but these were rejected based on size, price and colour. Finally we found two rugs which were the right size, hand-knotted Herati and Tabriz design rugs from India (but located in the US) and within budget. The client liked the look of both these rugs and we discussed the possibility of bringing both over to try in the room but based on more detailed images opted for the Tabriz design.
The rug, all 200kg of it was brought over by air, taking around a week from the US to London then delivered from the rug to Glasgow. From here we took the rug in a van and somehow got the beast of a rug into the building and into place, the result was quite spectacular and the client delighted.
The entire process took just under a month and the rug was in place for a tight deadline.
Below you can see some images of the rug in place, a beauty of a piece I'm sure you will agree...
