Old Patterns Inspire New Rugs

Things were heating up in Iran in 1978 as the Ayatollahs gained power and prepared to overthrow the Shah. Kamran Hashemi’s parents decided their son would be better off far from the approaching political storm, so they sent him to finish his studies in Connecticut. Kamran never returned to live in Iran, and he was soon joined by his sister and two brothers.

Kamran and his siblings are the third generation of the family to work in the carpet business. Kamran and his wife Miraneh, together with Kamran’s sister Marjani, work together at Palace Oriental Rugs on Route 7 in Wilton. Kamran and Miraneh have lived in Wilton since 1988 and their daughters, Tara and Leila, attend the public schools and keep their parents busy attending soccer games and dance recitals. Marjani’s family lives in Shelton and the other Hashemi brothers run stores in Washington State and Milford.

“We manufacture oriental rugs in India, Pakistan and Tibet,” Kamran says, noting that 90 percent of the rugs sold at Palace are made on the Hashemis’ looms. “We create our own designs drawing inspiration from old patterns found on the finest Persian rugs,” he adds. Kamran prefers using vegetable dyes for the rugs he sells but if chemical dyes are needed to make a particular color, he uses dyes from Germany where quality control is extremely rigid.

Palace Oriental Rugs is known for its high quality antique and semi-antique orientals, most of which are purchased in Europe for resale to designers and other retail stores throughout the United States. 

“We provide our customers with full service from the moment they buy a rug from us. A local designer sold a 9 by 13-foot rug to a client, and a few months later we had to pick it up to repair it after the puppy had chewed a hole right through it,” Kamran says, smiling.  “We also clean rugs.  An oriental should be thoroughly washed every five to seven years.”

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