How(small)Fortunes Are Made
By Farzan Navab
The early years, my daughter Peggah inside our first store. A repair table and a few rugs were all we had.Destiny is what we believe determines certain paths in our lives.
Kismet is what is known in the west as what the Persians called destiny. A Turkish pronunciation of an Arabic word which literary means one’s “share” in life.
Neither myself nor my brother Sam had any background in the rug business. For us, as I believe has been the case for many others in my generation, getting involved in this business was as much an accident of fate, as it was the result of a certain political event.
The Iranian revolution of 1979 was the backdrop for what happened to so many of us(Iranian students)that made it difficult to return to Iran. Some of us were gifted in sciences and medicine, others were engaged in academia and still others, such us ourselves, got involved in establishing independent businesses.
As it turned out my brother who had studied hotel and restaurant management in both England and Wisconsin, came across an Iranian gentleman who wanted to open a rug business in Minneapolis and was Sam’s guest at a suburban restaurant. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Let The Show Begin!We opened our first shop in 1988 on the corner of 50th and Bryant in south Minneapolis. How could we start a handmade rug business with minimal investment is a question many ask from us. We had no credit and no money to purchase inventory. But my brother and I had worked for another company and had realized there was a potential to make money in antique rugs, in New York and Europe, as well as in rug cleaning and repair.
I had some initial training in rug repair from an old timer in the Twin Cities. He had taught me how to fix ends and sides of rugs and had some experience cleaning them. To be sure I had more courage and enthusiasm than training but because of my background in the arts, having gone to art school and having worked at a museum, I felt an innate kinship to rugs, to their weaving tradition and to their history.
It was through a combination of business acumen from my brother Sam, and my own background in the arts that building a rug business, even with minimal investment, became possible.
Our first store on 50th & Bryant Ave S in Minneapolis, circa 1988After cleaning and repairing rugs for a few years my brother thought repair and cleaning alone-while paid for our expenses-would only provide us with a meager living but to go beyond that we would need to become retailers. “And where are we going to get the funds to buy inventory?” I remember asking Sam. “Let’s go to New York and find out if anyone is willing to work with us” he responded. I remember even buying tickets to New York and paying for our hotel expenses were managed through borrowed money.
The Old Man And His SonThe old gentleman who opened the door to us on the 7th floor of a midtown Manhattan building(the rug district)had no idea who we were. “Who are the gentleman?” he asked his son who had made the appointment for us. I was quick to point out that we came from Minneapolis while my brother explained that we had no money. “We clean and repair rugs” Sam said. “But like to start a retail store” he continued. The old man, puzzled by our hasty and somewhat awkward back and forth, asked us to calm down. “No worries. I am not asking for money. But what do you need?” he asked. He was more than willing to work with us, consigning many rugs without even asking for references.
Mr. Ebrahim Aziz and his son Bob who opened their doors to us in 1989This is how it all began. And sixteen years later(2001)we were able to acquire a piece of land on Excelsior Blvd in St. Louis Park, and build our own building. By then we had created a following and a recognition for quality rugs and service. Many Minnesota “originals” became our clients and people from all walks of life, those who wanted to learn about rugs and the cultures that produce them, came to know us. We always believed that it is not only the ability to purchase a rug that can help sustain our business but promoting a cultural understanding of the product, the discernment to appreciate a handmade rug.
Construction of our new store began in 2001Rising From The AshesA few years after building our new store in St. Louis Park, on a Sunday afternoon, I noticed a couple of women spreading something in the back yard near our parking lot. They caught my gaze, wondering what was going on when one of the women walked to me and said “you are probably wondering what we are doing?” I said “yes of course.” She explained that her father owned our property in the 1950s. He had a grocery store back then and this property- Navab Brothers current location-was very good to him. After the grocery store the gentleman had gone on to establish a private bank and had accumulated a small fortune. He had recently passed on and they were spreading some of his ashes on our back yard.
Bring The Philosophic StoneI was truly humbled by this experience and thought that it must be
Kismet! Our small store in 1988, cleaning and repairing rugs, our New York trip on borrowed money, the old man in Manhattan’s rug district, and now, owning a property that had brought wealth to another man! What did it all mean to a former art student and a restaurant manager? The cliche that hard work pays off would not satisfy my curiosity. So I asked Hafez, the great 14th century Persian Poet(1325-1390)for an answer. And here is a translation of one of his poems by none other than the great 19th century American poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson:
Butler, fetch the ruby wine,
Which with sudden greatness fills us;
Pour for me who in my spirit
Fail in courage and performance;
Bring the philosophic stone,
Karun’s¹ treasure, Noah’s life;
Haste, that by thy means I open
All the doors of luck and life.
Bring me, boy, the fire-water
Zoroaster² sought in dust.
To Hafiz revelling ’tis allowed
To pray to Matter and to Fire.
Bring the wine of Jamschid’s³ glass
That shone, ere time was, in the Néant4
1-Karun, A life giving river in Persia
2-Zoroaster, A persian Prophet who founded Zoroastrianism
3-Jamschid, mythological Persian King
4-Néant, Valeur, important rule