The Abadjian Collection

200 Lexington Avenue

Suite 1001

New York NY 10016

phone: 212.683.2043

fax: 212.683.2082
e-mail: abadjianb@aol.com

To The Trade
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600 C Khotan (Actual size pictured 9.10x12.7) 642 CFE Light Bessarabian (Actual size pictured 10x13.10)
 ensures us that our carpets are unique, authentic
and something that we are proud to create.
True to their origins, the carpets of The Abadjian
Collection are hand-woven with the finest wool.
The foundation threads are a handknotted blend of
cotton and wool, allowing both the soft hand of
the well-loved antique and the durability that will
allow these carpets to be passed onto generations
to come.
From the relaxed rhythm of a Bessarabian of the
Ukraine to the exquisitely detailed poetry of a
Persian Tabriz...
From the quiet beauty of an Indian Agra to the
strength of a Nomadic Bakshaeish...
The Abadjian Collection is the contemporary
source for historical carpet art.

3 3 Agra (10x14)

520 E Bessarabian (Actual size pictured 12x15.5)

The Abadjian Collection

Timeless elegance, historical integrity, old world craftsmanship and a lifelong commitment to the classic beauty
of the handmade carpet are the cornerstones of The Abadjian Collection.
Historically carpets were woven in villages, by families, in traditions passed from generation to generation. With
great respect to these bygone days and people, our intent is to create the venue in which their art can live on.
We have taken these carpets and insist upon recreating them with the same spirit, technique and love of their
original creators. Our artisans first transfer historical designs by handpainting life-size cartoons just as their
predecessors of old did. They pass these paintings to the weavers who transform wool into an unparalleled art
form. Virtually owning all of our production from the spinning of the wool to the final combing of the carpet,
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501 a Tamboura (Actual size pictured 8x10) 643 grCF Savonnerie (Actual size pictured 12x14.8)
5 524 Savonnerie (9x11.7)

571 d Bessarabian Antique (10.6x13.10)

599 CDk Axminster (Actual size pictured 9.8x13.4)

 647 CF (Actual size pictured 9.9x13) 559 a Seville (Actual size pictured 9x12)

182 bW Lahore (Actual size pictured 9x12) 601 NSE Khotan (Actual size pictured 7.5x8.6)
The Abadjian Collection
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 The Abadjian Collection is the culmination
of an arduous forty year career of the noted
antique dealer and carpet maker, Berdj M.
Abadjian. It is also the story of an artistic
dream come true.
Berdj Abadjian was born in Bucharest,
Romania, to Armenian parents. By the age
of 22 he had risen to the position of President
of a carpet weaving factory, which under his
leadership grew to be the largest exporter of
Romanian carpets, employing 1800 weavers.
A few years later (1963), he found himself
638 CF Bessarabian (9X12)
penniless in America, a refugee from the
dogmatic Communism that became the
unbearable price of his success in Bucharest.
He began his life again as a carpet repair man
in Chicago. With his artistic sensibility for
balance and design and an unerring eye for
7
color, Abadjian quickly rose to prominence
among American antique carpet dealers.
In a few shorts years he became a major
marketer on an international scale. His name
became synonymous with the finest carpets
always purchasing with great aggressiveness
pieces that he felt brought weaving to the
level of high art. Abadjian is the only dealer
in history who has had a carpet named after
him, The “Abadjian Star Kazak” (approx. size
5 x 7), which Sotheby’s sold for $291,500,
record price for a Caucasian rug.
But Abadjian’s career as America’s foremost
antique carpet dealer came to an end on New
Year's Eve of 1990 when his showroom was
ravaged by fire. Strangely enough, instead
of despair over this seeming catastrophe,
THE STORY... Abadjian felt somewhat relieved and in fact
elated.
Troubled in a business in which he could
find few pieces he felt a passion for, his
dissatisfaction grew as he saw it increasingly
difficult to find wonderful pieces to satisfy his
standards and the needs of the top designers
who were his clients. He began to tinker with
painting and writing poetry which often took
the form of philosophical aphorisms.
The final phase of this great career, ironically
enough, came full circle in Romania. The
political changes that liberated Romania in
the Christmas of 1989 helped inspire his new
vision. This was the perfect stage for Abadjian
to help his people to rebuild on the ashes of
Communism. In the spring of 1994, Abadjian
returned to his birthplace, Bucharest, Romania,
to create the great carpets of his imagination; to
create great carpets again at the end of the 20th
century; carpets that could no longer be found
and some that have never been imagined.
All the carpets of The Abadjian Collection
are hand woven on looms which he owns
and supervises daily. Not since the inception
of the Savonnerie looms in 1673 has there
been a hand weaving enterprise of such
scope and intensity, where artisan and artist
are joined so intimately. Berdj Abadjian lives
and breathes his carpets from start to finish.
He conceptualizes the design, completely
supervises the selection of the wool and the
dyeing and oversees the actual weaving on the
loom, sometimes working an 18 hour day. The
goal behind this magnificent commitment is
to eventually produce the greatest carpets this
century has seen. For those who know Berdj
Abadjian as the monumental dealer of antiques,
it is already a given that the new production of
the Abadjian looms will be one the high points
in the history of carpet making.
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565 L Agra (Actual size pictured 9x12)

589 CFE-571 Bessarabian (Actual size pictured 8.6x11.9)
9

531 aE Axminister (Actual size pictured 12.11x14.9)

521 CF Vasi (12.1x15.3)

597 TEW Bessarabian Antique (Actual size pictured 10x14)

525a Polonaise (9x12) 103 w Amritsar (9x12)

10
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6 NEDk Bessarabian (Actual size pictured 10x13.7)

574 a Agra (10x14) 575 CN Spanish (10.2x13.4)

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604 CW Cuenca (Actual size pictured 9.1x11.7)

223 bW Amritsar (Actual size pictured 9.11x13.9)
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605 CSE Khotan (Actual size pictured 8.2x9.2)

636 CF (Actual size pictured 10x13.1)

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588 sCF Garden Tabriz (Actual size pictured 8.11x10.2)

641 E Ukrainian (11x13)

 “I paint with wool. I prepare the
palette of colors for each carpet
I make. Our carpets are like
15 chamber music, not rock music.
Our audience is very sophisti-
cated. They'll hear the off colors.
We deliver custom orders in convenient time They'll see the wrong notes.”

“In my imagination color creates design,

just as the body shapes a dress. Although
design is very important, I like to feel it like
many notes of music. It's not the notes or
who plays the violin that's important to the
eye, but the ballerina who will express the
music. Color is the ballerina.”
Berdj Abadjian
 The Bessarabian
Flat Weave
Collection
Traditionally, carpets from Eastern Europe are identified as
"Bessarabian" (Romania). Nestled between Romania and Ukraine,
in the heart of the European continent, is the Republic of Moldovia.
Once known as Bessarabia, which was wrested away from Romania
in 1940 by Stalin.

The production, 18th and early 19th century, was primarly in

workshops established estates or within villages. The designs were of
unique characteristics combining French style and neoclassic elements 16
along with native folk art.

Unlike other manufacturers claiming Bessarabian reproduction,

producing inferior quality in China and abroad, The Abadjian
Collection continues a time-honored tradition, creating Bessarabian
design carpets from the country of origin. Mr. Abadjian is inspired
by the same uniquely defined native folkart and adapting this idea
with today's décor in mind. Influenced by the old world weavers of
Bessarabia (Romania), to transform wool into an unparalleled art
form.

914 Bessarabian flat weave (Actual size pictured 15.9x28)

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900 L Bessarabian flat weave (Actual size pictured 11.7x16.8)

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915 a Bessarabian flat weave (Actual size pictured 12.3x15.2)

911 b Bessarabian flat weave (Actual size pictured 11.7x15)
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905 a Bessarabian White flat weave (Actual size pictured 13.8x19.2)

901 Adams flat weave (Actual size pictured 9x13)

 Catalogue designed and printed in Europe by EuroPRINT +40 722 589 465
The Abadjian Collection

Not since the inception of the Savonnerie looms in 1673 has

there been a hand weaving enterprise of such intensity. Poetry
in Action Collection by Berdj Abadjian carpets is hand woven
on looms, which are owned and supervised by Mr. Abadjian.
Custom orders are welcomed and encouraged, custom size,
color and Antique reproductions are worked on in record time
of 3 months for a 12 x 18 size.
623 CF Bessarabian (10.1x13.4)

573 a Tabriz (10x14)