FAMILY TIES
Our founder — artist and renowned rug historian, John Kurtz — has had a lifelong appreciation for art and craftsmanship. After studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, he dedicated his career to spreading awareness and celebrating the art of hand-knotted rugs.
In 1993, John developed an outlet for his creative process by taking his more than 20 years of experience dealing antique rugs to create original designs under the New Moon label. After discovering an extraordinary partner in Nepal with whom he could make his vision a reality, New Moon was born.
Since 2004, John’s daughter Erika Kurtz has guided the business into the next generation, thanks to her formative years spent traveling and learning the industry with her father and sisters.
Today, Erika’s daughter Izzy is following in her footsteps — participating in the design process, experiencing Nepalese culture, and exploring her budding passion for handcrafted rugs — continuing the Kurtz family tradition that New Moon has become.
New Moon is a proud founding member of GoodWeave — a global nonprofit that works to end child labor and provides services to working mothers.
One of our most differentiating qualities is our almost all-women employee environment, including many mother-daughter teams. This facet of New Moon supports our legacy of empowering future generations to continue in the same line of work as their parents — often taking on new roles and furthering their careers — to build a strong foundation for the future of their families and communities.
New Moon & Nepal
In the early 1990s, John traveled to Nepal on behalf of USAID to advise the country’s rug industry on best practices to capture a larger share of the U.S. market. During his time with USAID, John began exploring the idea of creating his own line of rugs and envisioned Nepal as a possible home for production. Two main goals became his focus during the brainstorming for New Moon: the artistic integrity of the design, and the integrity of the culture in which the design would be transformed from a painting into fine art underfoot.
LEADING THE WAY FOR POSITIVE CHANGE
Since its inception, New Moon has aided in the movement to improve the Nepalese rug industry by advocating that our founding principles become the industry standard. New Moon workshops in Nepal are praised as a model for responsible business. Frequent foreign visitors — from the UN to various human rights groups — testify to the impact New Moon has made in third-world business examples. Our pledge to the highest standards of working conditions is demonstrated by our long-standing and internationally-recognized commitment to fair treatment of employees and socially responsible business practices, as well as New Moon’s continued support and active participation with our workshops in Nepal.