Hire Him: Richard Rothstein
A South Jersey rug-world maverick makes old-world textiles that happen to be completely new
Oriental rugs, says Richard Rothstein, are a lot like wine. Find a textile from the perfect terroir, one that’s created by artisans steeped in tradition, and you have yourself a keeper. For most of us—and for Barbara Eberlein, John Milner, Peter Zimmerman and W. Graham Arader III—procuring such a work means a short drive to Rothstein’s Mount Laurel showroom. But for “Indiana” Rothstein, the pursuit of newly made old-world luxury means traveling to farthest-flung Azerbaijan, then bringing his material treasures back to Jersey, where they reside alongside painstakingly reproduced antiques and handmade pillows.
