Rustigian Rugs

Specialties

Handmade rugs both contemporary and traditional from around the world.

Oriental rugs from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, India, Turkey and China.

Custom area rug design and production,

Specialty carpet cleaning services

Professional repair and restoration services for fine area rugs of all types

Wall to wall carpeting with a concentration on fine wool and designer products.

History

Established in 1930.

Rustigian Rugs was established by «Rusty» George Rustigian in 1930 during of the Great Depression. The fall of the stock market and the weak economy compleled him to leave Harvard Law to support himself and his mother. The rugs he bought and borrowed from the Michaelian family in NYC formed the core of the rug shop which began in the family home on Benefit Street in Providence.

Rusty plied his trade in new & antique rugs and was also a specialty vendor in the sale and installation of wall to wall carpeting. The 1802 Federal style house adapted to these changes. The 4-​car garage became a carpet showroom and the stable for the family horse (Gertie) was converted into a dry room. In the summer, a passerby would see the house draped in customer rugs — drip drying on fences, basking on the sunny driveway and hanging from specially built railings.

In 1980 Rusty’s daughter Roz took over the family business; in 1981, she bought the building where the business resides at One Governor Street.

Meet the Business Owner

Roz R.

Business Owner

Roz Rustigian

Roz Rustigian began her career as an Operations Analyst in the Hotel Division of Prudential Insurance Company’s Real Estate Department in Newark, New Jersey. She is a graduate of Connecticut College and was one of first three women to attend the Cornell University Graduate School of Hotel Administration.

Roz currently sits on the Boards of the RISPCA, Rhode Island Donation Exchange Program and is board chair of The Initiative to Educate Afghan Women. She has caterered, owned a gourmet shop, taught a cooking school in New York for divorced, male executives and was twice President of the Oriental Rug Retailers Association of America. She is a published author of articles relating to the operations of the rug business. Roz is active in AIDS Project Rhode Island a division of Family Service

An avid gardener, tennis player and work-​out enthusiast, she is also the single mother of two Rottweiler mixes and a cat named Dixie.