Clay Stewart
Charleston, SC
Oriental Rugs & Textiles
A $15 rug changes his life. Clay Stewart was a college student in San Antonio, scrapping around for furnishings. After finding a couch, he sought a hearth rug, which he got from an elderly Oriental rug dealer in a part cash, part labor deal-and was hooked. "I spent the next eight years apprenticed to [the elder], Mr Sahakian," he says. "He taught me to take every rug apart and put it back together again, literally, for every tribe going back 200 years. He taught me how to reweave holes, to repair rugs in a thousand different ways using needle and thread." Stewart's two collections of 19th-century rugs and woven textiles from central Asia and Afghanistan now comprise 48 Baluchis and 23 Turkmen. The Turkmen were exhibited at the Gallery of Fine Art, College of Textiles, North Carolina State University in 2006. The Baluchis were on view earlier at the College of Charleston. Stewart curated and wrote the exhibition text for both shows, which was no small task as the Turkmen show had a 7,000-word glossary. Stewart has owned shops and consulted for Sothby's and the Getty, but these days he spends most of his time on research. "I support my collections by private consulting," he says.
