David Adler’s interest in rugs started when he was in his teens. “I thought I would like to learn what I could about Oriental rugs.” The outcome of that early interest is David E. Adler, Inc., a Scottsdale, Arizona showroom that has a comprehensive collection of antique and decorative hand-knotted carpets including tapestries, needlepoints, kilims, and collector's pieces. Over the years, David says the rug business has evolved and there is increasing awareness of labor standards. “Child labor has been a nagging issue for a long time in the industry but now has a new prominence.” A RugMark member since 2001, David considers RugMark a worthwhile cause with which to be affiliated. His experience and the experience of the people who work in his showrooms is that the public is increasingly sensitive to the child labor issue.

David speaks about rugs as passionately as he does about the issue of child labor. Of a rug he recently acquired, a 19th century Mahal, he says simply handling the purchase and sale of it was a great pleasure. Walking through his Scottsdale showroom is a visual feast of antique carpets, contemporary designs, and Navajo tribal rugs. David handles a lot of custom work for interior designers as well, and is undaunted by challenges such as one request to create a very large hexagonal rug. “At the customer’s request we were able to have a stylized version of the purchaser’s name incorporated into the pattern,” said David.

Learn more about David Adler at www.davideadler.com

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