My passion for rugs began decades ago when I first travelled the ancient Silk Roads. Extensive journeys through Western China and Central Asian countries, especially Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasus, sparked my fascination with the captivating world of rugs.

I learned about their diverse manufacturing methods, designs, and color-dyeing processes. I made it a point to visit the centuries-old Central Asian markets, true knowledge hubs at the crossroads of trade routes transporting thought-laden rugs. Traversing some paths of the ancient Silk Roads helped me understand how rugs, through their designs, geometric shapes, and colours, carry content from different places, transported across centuries and distinct Asian regions.

Travel is a humanizing process that fosters new relationships. One such relationship was my interaction with experts dedicated to a particular kind of rug: antique rugs. If my Asian travels introduced me to the universe of rugs, it was through continuous contact with the Bakhshi family, who immigrated from Iran to Brazil, that I came to appreciate antique rugs as valuable pieces of art – those possessing artistic merit both aesthetically and in the quality of materials used. Rugs of this calibre ceased production long ago. More than mere decoration, I learned to regard antique rugs as art produced in a unique historical moment. Antique rugs are a source of knowledge about Oriental cultures – knowledge that knows no borders, as it travels, connects, is adopted, and transformed through contact with other peoples.

Most of the pieces available here are part of my personal collection. The primary objective of Figalli Rugs is to promote this art form, which needs to be recognized outside of Europe and the United States. It is to instigate the pursuit of knowledge from a finite art no longer produced with the same mastery and quality. Here, you have the exclusive opportunity to acquire these rare works of art.