Hi, my name is Jacob Rahman, founder of Soho Design House, producer of some really awesome Art Rugs. I am not really good at talking about myself, so I will keep it brief. I grew up in the 1980s loving art. Art was what kept me occupied as a child. Later in life my passion for art morphed into an interest in design. In the early 2000’s I studied design in San Diego and landed my first job in Del Mar California, shortly after graduating. 9 months later, in early 2006, I moved to Brooklyn New York, got a job in Soho New York selling rugs. Moving across the country, without friends and familiarities, I completely immersed myself in learning about the practical and commercial world of interior design. In 2009 we had an economic hiccup and that caused the design landscape to change. In early 2010, I was contacted by a recruitment company to take an offer, deploying overseas. After several months of consideration, I was headed to Afghanistan in May of 2010. I stayed until May of 2014. During those 4 years, I saw and experienced some paradigm shifting events. Those events were enough to remind me of life’s fragility. After one very moving event in 2012, I told myself that any dream I have, I better act on it soon, for life is not guaranteed. That week I implored and returned to my roots of art and design. I decided I wanted to create Art Rugs. I knew art, I had learned about the business of design and no one else was doing Art Rugs as I imagined them. So for the next almost 2 years, I became obsessed with creating a brand of Art Rugs. Below is a series of photos from my container housing unit (CHU) in Kandahar Afghanistan. Every day, after my officially assigned work was complete, I would return to this room and carve out my vision. In almost 2 years, the idea of Art Rugs became a reality. From this room, I made plans, I arranged emails, I had skype calls, and I created Soho Design House. Talk about low resolution, choppy, delayed, echo filled Skype calls!
“eat your vitamins”. -circa 2013 / KAF / Afghanistan
Some context to these photos. This is the room in Afghanistan that I worked out of countless hours to bring Soho Design House to life. I kept notes and used my walls as dry erase board. There are some photos of me working with US Armed Forces. 2 of my absolute favorite photos are the hand drawn exteriors of a retail space. I envisioned how I wanted my store to look like. I wanted Rugs hanging on the walls, a chandelier in the middle and a nice minimal storefront. Beyond my wildest fantasies, something amazing happened, the dream came to fruition. The rest of the photos are of my rugs and the space I created. Soho Design House is the World’s ONLY art rug brand. No one else exclusively makes Art Rugs, designed by renowned artists.
