A small-scalebusiness, which started off in Malta, has now flourished into a multi-million pound business, with the client list now including Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former Manchester United Manager Alex Ferguson.
BBC reports that Suzanne Sharp, a Maltese, and her husband Christopher, started off the business in Malta, selling some of the rugs they collected during their voyage along the souks of Saudi Arabia. At the time, Christopher had just quit film producing, and the couple were spending some time off in Malta.
Returning to the UK, the couple used their savings to open their first shop in Chelsea; however for the first five years the business was losing out more than making gains. They spent large sums on advertising, with full page adverts in quality interior design magazines.
A year after opening their first shop, Suzanne decided to design a contemporary collection of rugs, and the firm then changed tack, and went from buying rugs to designing them.
They then decided to invite ten interior designers to create the ‘perfect rug’. Since then, the business took off, with 80% of the rugs now purchased by interior designers. The firm expanded to 22 stores around the world, including Hong Kong, New York, Russia, Barcelona and Lebanon.
Today The Rug Company is known for its handmade designer rugs, which are valued anywhere between £2000 and £8000 measuring 9ft by 6ft.
The rugs are designed by well known designers including Alexander McQueen, Paul Smith and Vivienne Westwood. “Because we work with all these designers, it’s always new. No one else does modern rugs the same way in the UK”, Christopher said, in comments to the BBC. Furthermore, he added that working with such designerswas not part of the master plan - he just happened to ‘stumble upon them’, having met Paul Smith while he was buying a shirt.
Mr Sharp said that until they started working with such designers, the company was a typical entrepreneur business. The couple was really good at design and marketing, however the design and production of the rugs were still sketchy.
After that, the rugs became quite a hit with celebrities, including actresses Sarah Jessica Parker, Cameron Diaz, and TV reality stars, the Kardashians. Prime Minister David Cameron even commissioned a bespoke wall hanging to give to US president Barack Obama to commemorate his 2011 state visit to the UK.
The firm employs 2,000 people in Nepal, where the rugs are made. A team of 20 people works on a single rug, which takes an average of four months to make. Rugs are made from the hand-processed wool of Tibetan sheep, reared in Tibet. And the firm now has 22 shops globally, with six in the US and three in the UK, including the rug department at Harrods.
The company also provides a home consultation and approval service, where team members visit homes and give suggestions on style.
The store in Chelsea, precisely, King’s Road, even features a full time chef, enabling customers to eat breakfast or lunch as they browse.