43-year-old Ryan Smith came from California, the U.S., to Georgia to do carpet weaving business. It has already been more than 5 years that he has lived in Marneuli region mainly populated with ethnic Azerbaijanis with his family. His son goes to a kindergarten in Marneuli. All the members of the Smith family know the Azerbaijani language very well.
"I started the carpet weaving business when I was first in Azerbaijan, Qusar region. I wanted to start a small business there, so I investigated all the opportunities. As a result, I learnt carpet weaving.
When he first came to Marneuli, he spent a lot of time looking for weavers in different villages. Finally, he found what he had been looking for in Kosalar village. "There is a very famous carpet weaving center from century's past in Kosalar. I thought, it would be another good opportunity to do carpet weaving business there," Ryan says.
Currently, Ryan works with 8 local ladies from Kosalar. Once or twice a week, he goes with his son to the village to see how the work is progressing.
Locals appreciate this friendship. Ryan is always very warmly welcomed. If his coworkers need anything, for example, thread or new structure, he provides them with all the necessary stuff so they can weave the carpet.
After carpets are weaved, Ryan sends them to Azerbaijan for cleaning, as in Georgia, there is no such place for cleaning carpets. After being cleaned, carpets become much softer and more colorful.
In a week, after being cleaned, those carpets are sent back to Georgia, Ryan takes their photos and places them on his own carpet selling website. According to Ryan, his carpets are purchased online by people from the United States, Azerbaijan, Europe, Georgia and many other countries.
"There are definitely challenges with this project. As we’ve looked for weavers, we needed to be able to work with women who really know what they are doing, and what they are going to do . Some people want a quick or easy way to earn money, and then may not have time or dedication to make a quality carpet."
"Other challenges were to find people and market that are going to buy our carpets. We’ve been really thankful for the response to our project as we’ve been able to build a reputation of quality . At the same time, to manage every aspect of the project is a challenge. I like to think that we’ve been succeeding in a place where no one else has."
"There were other people who had tried to do this and it’s so difficult to find a national yarn and right weavers, and a design, and market to sell carpets. We’ve been really thankful that everything has been going well so far."
Ryan Smith chooses carpet designs from this book.
Our carpet weaving business going good so far. We just want to continue it like this.