Husband and Wife Duo Launch Second Rug Showroom
Alireza Talebi and Fara Kayone or as some know them, Mr. and Mrs. Abrash
For more than 20 years, Greenway Parks duo Alireza Talebi and Fara Kayone have been feathering the nests of local homes with the rugs they import from all over the globe. Now they’ve opened a second showroom.
The couple founded Abrash Rug Gallery in 1999, and this year they launched Abrash Modern as an extension of their brand.
The inspiration for the name, they said, came when a friend pointed out that the two loved rugs that contain “abrash” – a term for the color changes or striations running horizontally across the face of a handmade rug.
“Well, there you have it,” their friend Manas said, “of course you should name your showroom Abrash!”
The name stuck, and the two are now often known as Mr. and Mrs. Abrash.
The new showroom in the Dallas Design Center shows off the company’s extensive collection of new handmade rugs — all displayed under a custom-made light fixture that spans 400-square-feet.
“One day, we just had an ‘aha’ moment and realized – to put it simply – we are in the business of collecting beautiful, handmade objects for our designer clients,” Kayone said. “It was liberating to allow ourselves to graduate from our antique decorative base.”
But since rugs are something people typically like to see in person, how hard was it to do business during the pandemic?
“Spending so much time at home really makes people want their homes to be beautiful and become a sanctuary, and we are here to help with that.”
Alireza Talebi and Fara Kayone
“We were luckily able to maintain our steady flow of projects primarily because we are a to-the-trade only showroom and were able to continue working with new changes, as many others have, with email and online web conferencing platforms during the shutdown,” the two said in an email. “Our longstanding history with the Dallas community allowed us to pivot when the pandemic hit, and we were able to provide personal care to each designer given their different comfort levels.”
The company sent samples to clients and allowed other clients who felt more comfortable to make appointments to come to the showroom, wearing masks and using social distancing protocols.
“We felt it was important to provide easy solutions to previewing product since designers were still running a business during lockdown,” they said.
The two said that, like many businesses that offered decorating and design options, the pandemic might have actually increased interest in sprucing up.
“Spending so much time at home really makes people want their homes to be beautiful and become a sanctuary, and we are here to help with that,” they said. “We have seen the nesting period extend as we look into the colder months.”
Nonetheless, they are looking forward to a return to normal someday.
“What we really, deeply, miss is the more personal aspect of the design business; being able to host designers and their clients at our showrooms,” they said. “We still host daily, by appointment, visits but look forward to getting back to the unmasked and non-social distanced good old days soon. We are, by nature, a very social couple.”
Where To Find Them: To make appointments or learn more, go to www.abrashrugs.com, or call (214) 573-6262.
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