Usman Carpet House was founded by Usman Ashraf and began as a small shop selling carpets in 1974 in the heart of Lahore’s old carpet bazaar. The company steadily grew until it started exporting rugs to Europe itself. At the time, Pakistan was known for its production of Bokhara carpets. Usman Carpet House quickly positioned itself as a source of high-quality Bokhara rugs, helping to expand its customer base and target markets.
During the late 80s and 90s, many Afghan refugees came to Pakistan bringing along with them their vegetable dyes, hand-spun wool, and weaving techniques. Our founder was among the first to tap into this new resource of Afghan weavers setting up the trend for what later came to be known as ‘Chobi Rugs’. Working with Afghan refugee families, Usman Carpet House was to create a new look that changed the rug industry forever and provided 100,000 Afghan refugees with livelihood.
By the end of the ’90s, Usman Carpet House was exporting everything from Afghan chobi rugs to Pak Persian qualities and everything else and was spread across three locations, an administrative office, a washing factory, and a design plan. The expanded business required the company to consolidate its operations.
By the early 2000s, the company set up an ‘all under one roof’ facility on the outer edges of Lahore. Everything from designing, wool dyeing, washing, finishing, designing, administration work, repair, etc were to take place in one location. This helped the company smooth out its operations greatly.
Currently with over 300 people working at the company’s finishing works in Lahore, the company is operating nearly 50,000 looms spread over interior parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. With an approximate monthly production of 10,000 square meters, the company produces handmade carpets in small, medium, and large ranges.