A young couple walks through a set of glass doors with a wagon. It’s heavy, so they’re both hauling it with purpose. Rolled up, laying inside it is a red rug.
“You didn’t convince him of the color?” asks Mikael Manoukian. His family has owned Manoukian Brothers Oriental Rugs in Arlington, VA for generations.
“He’s not quite sold,” says the customer, Tsholo Chidakwa, who just moved to the area from South Africa.
“Do you think the blue would work?” asks Manoukian. “I might be able to get one of these in a light yellow.”
“Just send us a picture and then we’ll come and take a look at it in the store,” says her husband, Munya. “Rugs, they define the space.”
Although he studied business management in college, Manoukian didn’t plan to become a businessman. His passion lies in video production and live events, having spent nearly two decades as a cameraman – and is a self-described “recovering” actor. But when his father, Paul, began to age out of work, it fell upon him to run the family business: The oldest “oriental” rug store in the D.C. region.
Mikael Manoukian walks through the back of the shop, where hundreds of rugs sit in stock.Héctor Alejandro Arzate / DCist/WAMU
“I wouldn’t have chosen to do it,” says Manoukian, 52. “My goal was to basically honor my ancestors and their effort and do the best I could do.”
Those ancestors were the Manoukian brothers – Manouk, Noury, Mishel, and Mikael’s grandfather, Moses. They were forced to flee the city of Aintab, which is present day Gaziantep in Turkey, during the Armenian Genocide. That genocide, which has been recognized by the United States, occurred between 1915 and 1923.
According to Rouben Adalian, the director of the Armenian National Institute, a non-profit organization that researches and documents the history of the genocide, more than two million Armenians were systematically killed and forcibly deported.
Outside the shop, a sticker with the flag of Armenia reads, “Armenia Wants Peace.”Héctor Alejandro Arzate / DCist/WAMU
“The Armenian-American community effectively emerged on account of the atrocities that were being committed in the Ottoman Empire,” says Adalian. “Nearly all of them were people seeking refuge, looking for a way to simply hang onto life now and restart.”
The Manoukian family was able to escape to Aleppo in Syria before catching a French boat traveling across the Mediterranean. Eventually, they reached Ellis Island in New York before moving to D.C., where the brothers started a new life.
“My grandfather and his brothers came over here not to start a business, but to flee a genocide,” says Manoukian.
Most of the brothers found work at places like the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. (A&P) grocery stores to provide for their family, according to Manoukian. In 1922, with enough money saved up, Manouk opened A&P Rugs store in Foggy Bottom, taking inspiration for the name from his days at the grocery chain. Like many immigrants throughout U.S. history, Manoukian says his great-uncle opened a business that felt familiar to his own culture.
Tsholo Chidakwa and her husband, Munya, return a rug to Manoukian.Héctor Alejandro Arzate / DCist/WAMU
“He started the first little boutique, and it was probably simply because he came from an area and tradition that [knew] about rugs,” says Manoukian.
Seeing the benefit of selling products they were knowledgeable about, the rest of the Manoukians decided to open up rug shops in the District too. Not long after, says Manoukian, the brothers combined forces under one brand: Manoukian Brothers Oriental Rugs.
At the time, getting a hold of hand woven “oriental” rugs took both business acumen and hustle. The brothers would make their way to New York City to meet with rug dealers who imported the goods from Afghanistan and India, among other countries. They built relationships with the wholesalers, browsing hundreds of intricate rugs in between friendly games of backgammon and cups of thick Turkish coffee. When the brothers saw a rug they liked, they’d engage in lengthy negotiations before striking a deal.
“That was a very traditional thing to do,” says Dona Manoukian, Mikael’s mother, who continues to help run the business alongside him. “They brought their culture with them.”
Although it has gotten smaller over the past century, Adalian says the Armenian community in D.C. thrived for a time. Some families got involved in the hotel business, while some others specialized in the rug business.
A stack of rugs are spread by Manoukian to showcase the different styles and patterns.Héctor Alejandro Arzate / DCist/WAMU
“Small as it was, it was a coherent community,” says Adalian. “That’s one craft that many Armenians practice in the old country and one that turned out to be a profitable business in the U.S.”
Business was good for the Manoukians. The rug store became a staple not just for local customers, but nationally as well. In 1971, Manoukian Brothers supplied an antique sarouk rug from Iran to the federal government. When the rug was used as an underlayment for the U.S. Constitution inside the National Archive, it marked a milestone for the family. Since then, the business has provided, cleaned, and repaired rugs for institutions like Congress, the U.S. Capitol, and the Supreme Court.
As a youth, Paul, Mikael’s father, would help his father and uncles around the store. It was expected of him to not just continue the family business but also earn a college degree, Manoukian says. Paul became a civil engineer for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority, but on his lunch breaks, evenings, and weekends, he was a part-time rug salesman.
As time moved on, however, Moses, Mikael’s grandfather, and his brothers got older and were unable to travel as frequently as they once were. As he approached retirement from the WMATA in 1998, Paul took on the responsibilities of running the family business full time, just as his son Mikael would eventually do for him.
A framed photo reads, “CONSTITUTION DAY – SEPTEMBER 17, 1971. Antique Sarouk Carpet from Manoukian Brothers with the Constitution of the United States of America.”Héctor Alejandro Arzate / DCist/WAMU
For more than 20 years, Dona and Paul carried the family business into a new generation. He strengthened relationships with clients both longtime and new, while she streamlined their management and hired more employees. For Dona, it was just part of being married to a Manoukian.
“You don’t just marry the person, you marry the whole family,” says Dona. “The food, the traditions…things like that.”
Paul continued to barter with rug wholesalers in New York City. Sometimes, returning with a carrier van filled to the brim with Afghan gabbehs or peshawars from Pakistan. Or sometimes, no rugs at all.
Despite the ups and downs of running a business, Dona says it was always one of Paul’s goals to be fair to his customers and make the hand-knotted rugs – which are sometimes seen as luxury goods – more accessible by making payment plans available for them.
Manoukian places his hand over a recently repaired rug.Héctor Alejandro Arzate / DCist/WAMU
“One of the things that Paul Manoukian always tried to do was to price rugs so that anybody who wanted a handmade rug could afford it,” says Dona.
Although the business sat in the heart of the District for most of its existence, they relocated to Arlington after losing their lease about 4 years ago – which is around the same time that Mikael took over the reins. While it hasn’t been easy, he feels an obligation to carry on the family business. He says it’s not so difficult compared to his family’s escape from the Armenian Genocide.
“All I have to do is run a business,” says Manoukian. “I’m not fleeing for my life.”
In addition to his daily responsibilities, Manoukian is focusing on community outreach. Last year, the business hosted the Rug Shop Concerts inside the store front. Utilizing his chops in video production, the performances were shot in 4K and provided local musicians with a safe venue to perform and receive donations.