Woodbury, CT, July 28--At Abrash Galleries Rugs and Antiquities, the only place in the store one wouldn't see a rug is on the ceiling, according to Voices.com.
There are a dozen rugs laid out on the floor, a dozen rugs hanging on the walls and dozens more rolled up in the corners at the shop at 40 Main Street North, Suite 14.
The rugs range in price from $200 to $40,000. Some are colorful and some are plain. Some have tassels. Some have designs. Some look like quilts.
Almost every rug is an antique. One is 125 years old.
Prior to opening Abrash a few months ago, Karen Reddington-Hughes, the owner, worked at Hamrah's Oriental Rugs for nine years. Before that, she was a writer.
"My husband thought I was crazy," Reddington-Hughes said of her career change. "I didn't know anything about rugs and I was going to go work in a rug store."
Now, Reddington-Hughes knows seemingly everything there is to know about antique rugs; especially rugs from the Middle East.
The focus of Abrash is antique Persian rugs. Reddington-Hughes said Woodbury is a great location for an antique shop; she wants to attract people who want antique rugs for decorating.
"I want to appeal to people wanting antique rugs as well as people not wanting to invest too much money," she said.
Of course, many family sedans are priced more moderately than some of her rugs, but Reddington-Hughes said a properly maintained rug would outlast a car by generations.
She also explained what makes an antique rug more valuable than a rug made recently.
Besides being rare and collectible, antique rugs are of better quality than what one would find at, say Wal-Mart, because all older rugs were made with a vegetable-based dye, unlike many of the newer ones that are made with an artificial dye.
If someone place a couch over a new rug in a room with a lot of windows, the sunlight will fade the exposed part of the rug. When it comes time to redecorate and the couch is moved across the room, there will be a darker, couch-shaped spot left on the rug.
Vegetable-based dyes won't fade; they tend to oxidize in colors. Those dyes, which come from the Caucus Mountain region, can't be used anymore.
"Some of the flowers used to make the dyes don't exist anymore," explained Reddington-Hughes.
Some newer rugs still use some kind of vegetable-based dye. Abrash is the Persian word used for the shading of the dyes.
Reddington-Hughes noted that rugs from Persia are all individually sewn, so they are all unique.
"These are one of a kind. If you buy one of these you'll never see it somewhere else."
She also gave a buyer-beware warning. A 10-year long trade embargo was lifted two years ago, which, she said, did not affect most antique rugs because they were already here.
Now, many of the rugs barred for a decade are being sold as antiques, when in fact they are new rugs.
Almost all the rugs Reddington-Hughes gets she has bought in America. She hopes that her knowledge, coupled with her keen eye for authenticity will make her successful in Woodbury.
Reddington-Hughes also offers repairs and cleaning. She recommends people get their rugs cleaned every four to five years, regardless of how they look.
