Wrestling champion now conquers rug business in Mt. Airy

by VIVENNE McCARTHY

During the past century, the Oriental rug has become valued throughout the world as a work of art. With its rich history and color, the Oriental rug often is called the aristocrat of carpets. Although the Oriental rug of today may not soar through the air like the magic carpet of Arabian legend, it does perform magic, transforming interior spaces into extraordinary places.

Kazem Gholami, whose eponymous rug store is located at 7102 Lincoln Drive in Mt. Airy, has been selling beautiful, unique and antique Oriental rugs for over 12 years. He buys the rugs wholesale from Iran, Pakistan, China and India and has a small collection of antique rugs from Iran. Gholami also owns a warehouse in the Northeast, where he employs a staff who repair and clean all types of Oriental rugs.

Gholami grew up in the city of Mashhad in northeast Iran, where much of his family still resides. He left his country in 1980 for political reasons — around the time of the Islamic revolution — and ended up in England, where he studied textiles and the rug trade at a polytechnic institute outside of Newcastle. However, it was his political connections that caused him to pull up stakes and travel to the United States, where he worked in New York, Maryland and Texas before settling in Philadelphia where he met his wife, Salaj, who is from Tunisia.

“I will never again be able to return to my country,” Gholami says. “I was too outspoken during Khomeini’s regime in 1980. But I love this country … it has been good to me and I have wonderful customers.”

Gholami also happens to be a former international wrestling champion, winning silver, bronze and gold medals at the world-renowned Tiblisi tournament in Russia, while locally he has coached students at Episcopal Academy, Chestnut Hill Academy and Penn Charter. He first worked with CHA wrestlers during the 1991-92 season when he served as a part-time assistant to coach John Shaifer. Additionally, he helped found the Philadelphia Freestyle Wrestling Club, an AAU-affiliated program based at Germantown Friends School.

And although wrestling was his first love, the Oriental rug business is now a vocation he admits he loves. “My rugs are priced low, and I guide my customers through the process of acquiring a rug they can afford and which is suitable for their home. When a customer is buying a rug for his home, he wants quality. Handmade rugs, such as the ones I sell, are much more durable than mass-produced machine-made rugs and are made with natural materials, such as cotton, wool or silk. The fibers last longer, and since each rug is hand-knotted, there is more strength and consistency in the overall rug.”

So a high-quality Oriental rug, treated well, can last for centuries and needs very little maintenance, according to Gholami. To maintain their original colors, the rugs should be hand-washed by a professional every five to 10 years. They should never be steam or chemically cleaned.

For more information, call 215-247-6966.