Antique Sultanabad Rugs The city of Sultanabad (which is now known as Arak) was founded, in the early 1800’s, as a center for commercial rug production in Iran. During the late 19th century, the firm of Hotz and Son and Ziegler and Co. established a manufactory in Arak / Sultanabad whose sole objective was to produce rugs to meet the western demands. They even brought over western designers to conform to the western tastes of the time. This was the first instance of a hands-on western influence in the industry (which until this point was sheltered from western insights). Many of the Persian Sultanabad rugs that were woven by Ziegler and Co featured more updated colors as well as larger scale all over patters which some in the art history world attribute to being the initial formation of the Arts and Crafts movement.