My first love for Oriental antique rugs began in Istanbul, and flourished into a professional passion, which stuck with me while I lived and worked in Strasbourg, France; then, in New York City, U.S.A.
It is a wonderful feeling to pursue your passion in your professional life. As an avid restorer and seller of antiques Oriental rug and European Tapestries for well over 40 years, I have lived many deeply-felt uplifting moments when my clients expressed their gratitude for the repair work I had done for them, or the exceptional rugs I had helped them to buy, with which they are still in love.
However, I had to resolve many difficulties to provide satisfactory results for my loyal clients. Among those, the yarn to be used for the restoration of a given rug had nearly never been readily available on the market. First, I had to find the right quality of wool after a long search. Then, dye it myself to perfectly match the antique colors of the rug under repair.
During my visit to Armenia in 2018, I discovered the revival of hand-made rug weaving tradition in full swing. Moreover, the preferable trend was to use yarns produced by traditional methods. When I returned to New York City, that experience stayed stuck on my mind. I dreamed about the possibility of producing my own yarn in Armenia.
What was once a dream, has now become a reality. Woolway is an established company and on its ascend…
My initial guide has been Ruzanna Torozyan, the President of WINNET Armenia Association of Women Resource Centers. In one of the centers, she introduced me to the microcosm of hand-spun and hand-dyed woolen yarn production, as well as the hand-woven fabrics, rugs, and decorative pieces made with the same yarns.
My right-hand in operations is Mariam Nalbantyan, who has immense knowledge and experience in virtually every aspect of our business. If a client thinks that the yarn we provide or the rug we sell is produced in perfection, Mariam is the major actor behind that success with her meticulous work, attention to detail, and inspirational mentorship to each artisan in our company.
I feel both lucky and proud for having collaborated with Mariam Nalbantyan and Ruzanna Torozyan. Lucky, because they accepted to join forces with me. We formed a dream team: Woolway. Proud, because they are on my team. And gradually, all of our employees have also become a member of our team.
In fact, this team approach to our employees transcends our company and extends to our suppliers and clients, too. The foundation of our business is built on the principle of creating a mutually desirable win-win business transaction for everyone, every time.
We are all on the same winning team.
Sincerely,
Hayk Oltaci
President of Woolway
WOOLWAY ArmenExpo 2023
WOOLWAY is an eco-friendly company in Armenia with a broad international perspective to contribute and expand the tradition of hand-woven rugs using our naturally produced and dyed yarns. Since we have been founded on our combined experience of over 70 years in traditional rug weaving and restoring, we have the complete flexibility and multiple capabilities to meet our clients’ specific needs in every aspect of the Oriental rug business.
Recently, as the worldwide demand has surged for the restoration or repair of fine Oriental rugs, we have increased the number of our expert restorers to meet the clients’ current needs. We are also committed to training the next generation of rug weavers and restorers. Please contact us for more information at 033 96 65 26 or https://woolway.am/contact/
