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Rhody Gem: Uncover a World of Rugs on Governor Street at Rustigian Rugs

November 2025

Posted

Rustigian Rugs

Handwoven rugs and luxury carpeting

 

What it is:

A retail space and showroom for a collection of beautiful, internationally sourced handwoven rugs and luxury carpeting.

 

Where to find it:

At the corner of Governor and Wickenden streets – look for the stately building with the striped awning over the doorway, across from the George M. Cohan Memorial statue and Pizza Marvin.

 

What makes it a Rhody Gem?

There ain’t no mountain high enough to keep owner Roz Rustigian from a beautiful rug. To wit: prior to a 2015 shopping trip to Afghanistan, Rustigian’s doctor had to sign a form for trip sponsor USAID saying that she could scale a vertical metal ladder wearing a 50-pound flak jacket and run across several roofs if necessary. Fortunately, that never came to be, but repeated trips to the Middle East and other far-flung reaches of the world are all in a day’s work for this East Sider. Founded by her father during the Great Depression who dropped out of Harvard Law to support his family, Rustigian Rugs has been the regional go-to ever since for an extensive inventory of rugs featuring handmade rugs from Afghan, Turkish, and Indian, plus wall-to-wall carpeting and cleaning and repair services. Rustigian took over after her father’s death in 1980 and hasn’t looked back. “I learned to crawl and walk on handmade rugs, which changed frequently as my father had a habit of entertaining customers in our home and selling our current floor adornments out from under my mother and myself.”

 

Rustigian Rugs

One Governor Street

RustigianRugs.com

 

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