Noor Khan was born in Northern Afghanistan in the small town of Akcha and raised in a refugee camp in Pakistan. As an Afghan refugee growing up, he went to school in the refugee camp. He joined the family business at age 15 and started helping his older brother in a 50 square meter oriental rug shop in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
An ambitious 15-year-old, he also sold war rugs and Blochi rugs from Afghanistan in the flea markets of Pakistan. His clients were ambassadors and consulate workers from around the world. The flea markets of Islamabad were fun places for these diplomats in Pakistan on Fridays and Saturdays because there were at least 500 hundred vendors selling only Afghan art work. Every weekend, Noor would take fifty or more small, inexpensiverugs to the flea market and sell at least ten in two days.
Into the Family Business
Noor spent about two years in Islamabad selling rugs and learning about their history and quality from his older brother. Then he joined his father, Jora Agha, in the camp where he was producing good quality rugs with individual Afghani rug weaving families. Working with Chris Walter, the highly reputable owner of Yayla Tribal Rugs in Cambridge, Massachussetts, Jora Agha was able to help create jobs for Afghan refuges. Working with Walter's nonprofit organization, Cultural Survival in Pakistan, schools for Afghan refugee kids were built, as well. Yayla’s only demand from Noor's father was that all wool used in the rugs had to be naturally dyed and hand spun, using traditional designs and techniques Jora's family had used since the 17th century. Every single color used in the rugs was a natural plant dye and every wool used had to be hand spun and hand carted.
The project was so large that Jora taught his sons everything he knew about producing quality rugs, creating natural dyes and taking care of looms. Since Noor was already working with his father, he soon took over the contracts with the weavers, as well, and began to dye the wool himself. The quality of rugs produced by the project was now in Noor's hands, and he exceeded Jora's and Walter's expectations. The quality of rugs made in the camp was the best available in the United States in the 1990s. Demand grew quickly despite having fewer weavers in the camp as rug companies in the United States and Europe began hiring Afghan refugees and producing rugs themselves.
Back to Afghanistan
By this time, the Soviets had left Afghanistan. Noor was sent back to Afghanistan to recruit more weavers from among those Afghanis who had stayed in the country and those who were returning after the long years of war. One of Noor's uncles in Afghanistan was also in rug business. He was eager to help Noor build his long-held dream of making rugs in their own town of Akcha. It was not to hard to gain his father's approval of this plan. And in no time at all, Noor had built his own rug company, where young adults could come and weave rugs in a safe and clean environment, though some weavers still preferred to weave rugs in their homes, as well. Noor's dream was a success. He was able to make quality rugs while creating good jobs in a good environment for the people of Afghanistan after the Soviets left the country.
When the Taliban came into this part of Afghanistan, Noor was forced to flea. He left Afghanistan in 1998 and came to the United States in 2000. When he first arrived here, he started working for Yayla Tribal rugs. At the same time, he started producing rugs on the side with the help of his older brother, who was still living in Pakistan. Noor sold these rugs wholesale to Oriental rug dealers in the United States. Noor's father and rest of the family moved back to Afghanistan. Today they live in the same town where most of the ethnic group of Turkmen people lives. There, Noor's father Jora Agha and Chris Walter started a project with Barakat, a nonprofit organization helping build schools and creating jobs in Afghanistan.
The Bay Area and Noor & Sons Rug Gallery
Many rug dealers in the San Francisco Bay Area had heard about Jora Agha's production of rugs. After Noor came to United States, he worked with an exclusive list of reputable dealers on his own production of rugs, with colors and designs of his choosing. Noor took this opportunity to move to the Bay Area. When the recession started, many dealers stopped buying rugs, but Noor remained confident in his production of beautiful rugs. He maintained his production levels, and with many rugs in his possession, Noor soon established his own dream rug shop.
Noor & Sons Rug Gallery opened its doors at the start of 2010 in a most beautiful location near the Berkeley Hills. Noor Kahn's new dream is that some day, at least one of his four beautiful sons will grow up and take over his Oriental rug business, continuing a family tradition that stretches back for hundreds of years and bringing beautifully made rugs to the world while helping the people of Afghanistan.