So in order to partially serve my mission until I can, I channel most of the profits of Tufenkian Carpets into the Tufenkian Foundation. Its mission is to realize a range of humanitarian and development projects. The focus has been on the newly independent nation of Armenia which emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 with every kind of post-soviet economic and social problem. I felt called there to help develop a new economy, and equally, to fight for economic and social justice. That has led me into major projects to protect the environment, create democratic institutions, up-lift the weak and vulnerable, and re-settle refugees.
I began working to develop the economy of Armenia in 1993 when I started a carpet production there. I was fortunate to have my experience building the business in Nepal to guide me in reviving that historic craft in its birthplace, and enabling me to provide honest labor to its people. Then in 2001 I began Tufenkian Heritage Hotels, applying my design sensibility and financial resources to creating boutique hotels in the depressed regions of the country, and in the process, helping open them to international tourism.
It is the profits from the rug business that enable me to engage in this good work. Every purchaser of a Tufenkian carpet supports and participates with me in it and helps us to make the places we touch a little better than we found them.
I HOPE THAT OUT OF THAT KNOWLEDGE GROWS A DEEPER APPRECIATION OF OUR PRODUCTS, AND A DEEPER LOVE OF THEM FOR WHAT THEY REPRESENT.
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