In 1986, James Tufenkian began revolutionizing the handmade carpet industry when he founded New York-based Tufenkian Artisan Carpets, blending traditional craftsmanship with contemporary design. What started as a vision to revitalize the ancient art of Tibetan carpet weaving in Nepal soon expanded to multiple business ventures in Armenia, his ancestral country, and finally to an extraordinary far-reaching commitment to humanitarianism. Most recently, the Tufenkian Heritage Hotels opened. The chain of luxury boutique hotels is contributing to the revitalization of the Armenian economy through tourism. A true visionary, Tufenkian not only sets a high standard for innovation and quality in his respective businesses, but also has established an exemplary business model founded on the concept of social responsibility.

"I admire people who do work that is extremely important to humanity, but who do it with the complete humility and dedication that comes from knowing that they are answering to a calling that cannot be judged by the ordinary standards of this world," says the attorney turned entrepreneur and humanitarian.

Raised in a devout Christian family, Tufenkian always felt passionate about issues of justice and believed it was his duty to help others. At the age of fourteen, he set three goals for himself: Get a good education, make money and make a difference in the world. He studied at New York University School of Law with the intention of becoming a civil rights lawyer. He received his initial training on rugs while working for a major San Francisco rug importer but then dabbled in buying and selling rugs on his own to pay for law school. After graduation, he planned to take a few years off to travel the world, buying and selling rugs, until he realized that he had both the means and the desire to start his own rug company.

At a Heimtextil trade show in Frankfurt, Germany, Tufenkian had the good fortune to be exposed to Tibetan rugs and saw in them an opportunity to introduce new designs and colors, using these newfound materials. Tibetan wool, strong and rich in lanolin, is considered one of the finest natural fibers in the world for carpet making. Due to the emigration of Tibetan refugees, nearby Nepal became the rug making center for Tibetan weavers. Tufenkian was able to start a small production there with an exiled Tibetan master craftsman named Tsetan Gyurman, who has a profound knowledge of carpet weaving. As Tufenkian and Gyurman formed a friendship and partnership, they resolved to revive the ancient craft of Tibetan carpet weaving with a contemporary sensibility and to produce finer rugs on a much larger scale.

In the late 1980's, traditional Oriental rugs, often imported from Iran or Afghanistan, dominated the market. Tufenkian began to redefine the rug industry with new designs inspired from the world over and made specifically for the U.S. market. Using Tibetan wool entirely carded, spun, dyed, woven and sheared by hand, Tufenkian reinterpreted the elements and scale of traditional designs and simplified them into a transitional aesthetic. "We've had modern designs in the collection since day one," he says. "I credit Barbara Barry and her first collection with us for shocking me and the industry into a new view of simple elegance in rug design and for leading our modern rugs in a new direction."

Each year, Tufenkian offers 100 newly executed designs in multiple colorways in a myriad of styles for their Core Tibetan collection, from traditional to Arts & Crafts and Modern to Primitive Chic and solids. In addition, the Tufenkian line now includes Armenian rugs and a Designers' Reserve collection made exclusively for the design trade, featuring the works of design icons such as Barbara Barry, Clodagh, Vicente Wolf and Kevin Walz, as well as Tufenkian himself. A custom rug program encourages experimentation.

Though Tufenkian Artisan Carpets flourished from its inception, financial success was not the end-all for the entrepreneur. Tufenkian and Gyurman shared a vision on ethics and social reform and had vowed to change the working and living conditions in Nepal. Tufenkian reevaluated the company's objectives and realized he could incorporate philanthropy into the operating costs of the business. He developed a self-sustaining business model called "Necessarily Ethical Economic Development" (NEED) that provides incentives for workers through employment and a range of social services. As the framework for all his business ventures, NEED established three goals: Make beautiful things of enduring quality, make a profit from them and use that profit and the associated employment opportunities to enrich the lives of workers and surrounding communities through a variety of programs.

In 1988, Tufenkian initiated worker Welfare Programs as the main complex in the Kathmandu Valley that included a ban on child labor and encompassed special training, higher wages, on-site housing, the first water purification plant and waste treatment facility and a Montessori school for children, who not only receive a solid education but regular medical checkups. A medical center, constructed in 1995, employs both Eastern and Western philosophies to treat employees as well as the surrounding community.

Like many companies, Tufenkian is committed to adopting "green" policies to protect the environment. The Nepal facility uses a water recycling system. To preserve the area's natural resources, heat is generated by oil rather than wood. An extensive garden minimized land erosion during the monsoon. Carpet fibers are biodegradable. The company dedicates a large portion of its profit each year to improve and expand facilities.

Capitalizing on the same corporate model, Tufenkian brought this social idealism to Armenia, a country haunted by years of suffering and a bleak past. His grandparents left Armenia after a genocide known as the Hamidian Massacre in 1894-96 killed 250,000 Armenians, including his great-grandfather. As a second-generation Armenian growing up in America, he never took anything for granted. Says Tufenkian, "If one has any appreciation at all for what is called the 'accident of birth,' in which we are fortunate enough to born in America while others are starving, freezing and at war, I think it is difficult not to feel obligated to express gratitude for our position by trying to balance the scales a bit."

In the early 1990s, Tufenkian visited Armenia and found it in a state of devastation and depression after the collapse of the Soviet Union. "My social philosophy was born long before I ever saw poverty," he says, "but when I saw it firsthand, it just personalized the matter and gave me the jolt of energy to get moving."

Post-Soviet Armenia faced many challenges with no electricity, high unemployment, closed factories and borders; however, the country still had one major resource: the Great Caucasus Mountain sheep. In 1993, Tufenkian established a carpet industry using Armenian wool under the tutelage of Tibetan artisans, employing nearly 1,000 locals while restoring a centuries-old craft to a recovering nation. Today, it is a world leader in handmade Armenian carpets.

Furthering his humanitarian efforts in Armenia, he established the Tufenkian Foundation in 1999, a nonprofit organization that creates sustainable charitable projects to enrich its beneficiaries, both spiritually and physically. Over the past several years, more than fifty projects throughout the country have been created to address the economic, social and environmental needs of the local community. Armenian Knitting Ladies employs nearly 400 skilled women who knit their own designs. Armenian Forests NGO promotes reforestation to protect natural resources. Soldier's Mother organizes free classes for children of fallen or disabled war veterans. Vanadzor Orphans Program houses 120 children. Our Duty to Live offers education and social services to Armenia's neediest children. Sheep Farms offers sustainable livelihoods to remote villages. In recent years, the foundation has extended its activities to the embattled enclave of Nagorno-Karabagh, where native Armenians struggled against Azerbaijani occupation, offering postwar resettlement, housing for needy or displaced families, construction of infra-structure roads and healthcare facilities. Although a majority of the current projects focus on Armenia, the foundation annually contributes over one million dollars to social justice programs in both Armenia and Nepal, far exceeding international standards.

Despite the foundation's breadth, Tufenkian started pursuing other economic opportunities to further broaden Armenia's economic development. To share the experience, beauty and culture of the country he held in such esteem, he decided to bring "boutique slices of luxury in an unexpected setting" to the rest of the world. In 2001, the Tufenkian Heritage Hotels was established as a chain of luxury boutique hotels, constructed using indigenous materials. As the first tourist initiative of its kind, the hotels draw inspiration from the countryside in the spectacular settings of Lori, Yerevan and Lake Sevan. Each hotel features quarters designed by Armenian architects.

"The response has been fantastic," he says. "Armenians love the hotels, which now accounts for more than fifty percent of our business, something we never anticipated." Four more hotels are scheduled to open in 2008-2010.

Another project that excites the entrepreneur is the Dilijan Old Town Renovation project, which will restore an entire historic district with a museum, restaurants and shops. Says Tufenkian, "Although it has taken longer than I anticipated, everything I dreamed about happening in this country is happening."

Even in the midst of a hectic schedule shuffling from New York to Armenia and Nepal, Tufenkian still finds time for personal travel. As both visionary and driving force, he closely manages his tree core businesses: rugs, hospitality and more recently, the gourmet foods company he co-owns, Harvest Song, which produces preserves and vegetable products in Armenia for export. Moreover, the company plans to add six designer showrooms and two Tufenkian archive showrooms in Los Angeles and Portland, featuring an exclusive selection of antique and new rugs.

As the business continues to grow, so does the philanthropy. "I want to impact the world for the better," he says. "All I have done so far is a mere prelude. A prelude to something I pray will surface in the next couple of years." In Nepal, he wants to provide vocational training. In Armenia, he wants to increase environmental awareness and to seek a greater level of social justice for common people.

With his cutting-edge portfolio, James Tufenkian remains one of the great design successes in the home furnishings industry. His hotels are garnering more attention as they improve the environments around them. His humanitarian efforts are earning him a hero's status, but for Tufenkian it takes a lot more to make a hero. "At night I go to bed worried that I have not done enough, and that by the time my life ends, I will have wasted what was given to me."