TUFENKIAN TRANS CAUCASUS LLC

Tufenkian Artisan Carpets was founded by James Francis Tufenkian in the year 1986.It was the first company in the antiquated carpet business to create an internationally recognized brand, and to design and manufacture its products targeted to the high-end, fashion segment of the carpet business - a market which in fact the company itself created. Tufenkian Artisan Carpets now has 5,000 employees in its Nepalese factories, 150 distributors around the world, and six company-owned showrooms in the United States, one in London and one in Yerevan. After the collapse of the former Soviet Union Mr. Tufenkian resolved to return to the country of his ancestors and participate in the development of a new and independent Armenia. In 1993 he launched a handcrafted carpets business in Armenia, employing as many as 1000 workers, and creating a carpet-manufacturing infrastructure which quickly attracted other entrepreneurs to begin productions of their own, and employ still more Armenians.