“I consider rugs to be one of the most durable, traditional, beautiful forms of art that you can purchase and live with,” says Jeff Deutsch, who owns Artisan Rug Gallery with his wife, Tiffany. “A nice rug can be very inspiring.”
The couple has two Colorado showrooms—one in Crested Butte, which opened in 1990, and in Denver, which is celebrating 10 years. In each space, expertly handwoven rugs sourced from artisans across the globe are beautifully hung like paintings in a museum. The business is a passion born from Jeff’s extensive travels throughout South America, Mexico, and Asia, where, after a day spent mountain climbing or surfing, he stopped to peruse local markets selling unique textiles and became enamored with the history, production, and people behind rugmaking.
Today, Artisan Rug Gallery procures rugs for clients in Colorado and beyond, working with more than 60 vendors to deliver high-quality, often bespoke pieces. Within its roster of exciting plans, the gallery will soon release a rug collection featuring the works of several Denver artists.
What’s typically in your inventory?
One of the things we love right now is Moroccan Berber rugs—the thick pile, the mid-century modern elements of design that are clean and simple but also have traditional tribal relevance to them. It's a nice combination. We also have a lot of rugs from India and Nepal that are mostly programmed, which is like having a recipe for a rug. We make one or two rugs at a time, then if someone needs a different size, we can make it for them. We also have a lot of one-of-a-kind pieces from Morocco and Turkey.
Describe your clientele.
In our Denver showroom, it's mostly designers with projects. Usually, a project is several months long because it’s remodeling or new construction for multi-million-dollar homes. We deliver [the rugs] when the house is done. Our clients are everywhere. We just shipped three giant rugs to a client in Jackson Hole. We’re in the process of doing a seven-home project at a winery in Napa Valley, and I recently sent a rug to a client in Boston.
How often are you traveling to source new rugs?
Two to four times a year, we go to Europe, Morocco, India, and Turkey. New York and L.A., too. We're always looking for the next thing. Rugs have a history of being super staid and traditional. In the last 25 years, things have changed. You could barely get anyone to do anything out-of-the-box; now, there are more contemporary rugs coming out of places like Nepal.
What makes a rug high quality?
The quality of the wool, the dyes and the weaving. Those are the three components to a quality rug. Nepali rugs made by Tibetan weavers are insanely good quality rugs. In my opinion, they're the best rugs being made today.
Your longevity in the business is inspiring.
In the Crested Butte showroom, I’m now doing business with some of my customers' kids who, when they were younger, would come in as toddlers and jump on the rug piles. Now they're buying rugs as adults. A lot of times, they're bringing their kids in to do the same things that they were doing. It’s funny, too, how many people come back 10 or 15 years later and say, we just bought a new house and need all new rugs. Their house could be in Dallas, New York, California, Chicago. It’s really fun.
Artisan Rug Gallery
Denver & Crested Butte
ArtisanRugGallery.com
"Nepali rugs made by Tibetan weavers are insanely good quality rugs," Jeff says. "In my opinion, they're the best rugs being made today."