BIO: Clay Stewart
"O Allah, seeing Thou hast created Beluchistan, What need was there of conceiving Hell?" - Arab Poet

In 1969, Clay Stewart was a 19 year old freshman at San Antonio College when he bought his first antique Oriental rug. It happens that it was from one of the country’s preeminent Armenian rug dealers and master weavers, N. A. Sahakian. “I lived in a rented, empty house in San Antonio‘s Alamo Heights' neighborhood. I had just bought a couch and I needed a hearth rug to go in front of it. I bought the rug from Mr. Sahakian for fifteen dollars and traded some labor in the bargain. He had me move rugs around his old landmark ‘Oriental Rug Works’ shop. You know, fold and carry, that sort of thing.” That one meeting turned into an incredible working relationship between Stewart and Mr. Sahakian and, on Stewart’s behalf, an appreciation for rugs that has lasted a lifetime.

Later, while studying quality control mathematics at the University of Texas, School of Business and Economics, Stewart had the opportunity to compare the production of American machine-made rugs with the rug weavings of the Oriental rug world. “Simply put, I realized that new factory rugs do not compare in craftsmanship, or color, or design. Even then," Stewart says: “I knew that modern economics would not allow this art form to continue and that it was essential that we collect and conserve the world‘s finite number of rare, antique, Oriental rugs.” When other students were looking for ways to rebel against the establishment, Stewart found that studying these hand-woven textiles was an effective antidote for what he described as ‘the sterility of American factory-made textiles.’

Again and again he was drawn back to Sahakian’s landmark shop. Finally, immersing himself in the world of rugs, Stewart found his calling. Thus, he began what would become a full time, eight-year apprenticeship. He eventually became classically trained in all Oriental rugs, a master restoration-weaver and washer and cataloguer for all antique Oriental rugs, from the European side of Istanbul to the east coast of China.

After he completed his apprenticeship, he went off to work on his own, eventually owning shops in both Texas and Honolulu. He has also worked in the New York market and has consulted for Sotheby’s in London and with the original Getty Museum in Malibu, California, under the auspices of Mr. Sarkis Derelion of Santa Cruz.

Today he continues to find and preserve rare antique Oriental rugs for a national clientele, including Hollywood actors, while developing a new client base in Coastal South Carolina. There, he is involved in finding and replacing the missing period rugs that were most likely originally found in the old homes of Charleston and in the historically and architecturally significant houses and buildings of its regional surroundings. He is available for consultation by appointment.

EMAIL Clay Stewart
(843) 324-4244