Since 1977, Galerie Moghadam has been offering personal rugs in multiple colors. Founding father of the gallery, Alexander Moghadam, soon to be 86 years old, to whom we could easily give ten less, is about to hand over. We take a look back at the fabulous fate of an outstanding trader, whose passion for rugs leads to admiration.

This unexpected meeting changed everything. At that moment, he did not imagine for a single second that his life would change. When fate holds unexpected surprises. While traveling to Monaco, Alexander Moghadam and his family reserve a table at Le Méridien. On the terrace, when dinner has already started well, the Princely Family settles down a few meters away. Prince Rainier III, Princess Grace Kelly, their daughter Stéphanie and young Albert II sit down. The opportunity is too good to take a picture.

Princess Grace asks me where I’m from, what I’m doing, why I’m here. I tell him that Monaco is a paradise

Alexander Moghadam

“I walked over to them and started talking to Princess Grace, remember Alexander Moghadam, in French tinged with oriental colors. She asks me where I’m from, what I’m doing, why I’m here. I tell him that Monaco is a paradise. ” It was then that Grace Kelly asked this young German of Iranian origin why he did not settle in the Principality to exercise his activity. “I ask her if she is joking, he smiles. She was serious. ”

He inaugurated the gallery in the presence of Grace Kelly

The very next day, Alexander Moghadam met looking for a boutique in Monaco. But there is a problem. To display his rugs, he needs space. How to find a 300 m2 room when the vast majority of shops on boulevards des Moulins are less than 50 m2?

“Six months later, a real estate agency called me and offered me this room, which housed antique paintings, for 1.3 million francs. I jumped at the chance. ” After a year of work, the Moghadam Gallery was inaugurated in 1977, in the presence of Grace Kelly.

At the time in Iran we had seven million people working in the carpet industry. Today, they are not more than two million

Alexander Moghadam

Since that day, Alexander Moghadam and his family have never left the Principality. And the gallery is getting ready to blow out its forty-five candles. An incredible longevity, which finds its roots in Germany, in Frankfurt, at the beginning of the 1960s.

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“I worked for an airline (Lufthansa) to the cargo department, he explains. I must have been 17, 18, and the pilots, co-pilots, stewarts and hostesses were looking for mats. I accompanied them to the bazaars in Iran and I acted as intermediary. ” His commercial flair and his innate sense of selling are taking its toll. “I get three times more than my salary with commissions!” So a pilot asked me why I wasn’t opening a store in Frankfurt. ”

He also takes care of the Nepalese consulate

The one who started a bit by chance but with a lot of passion in the carpets at the age of ten – “Neither my parents, nor my brother and my sister are in this field” – opens a first store. Then a second. Until counting six. “The Germans were starting to regain their purchasing power. The rugs were selling enormously. At the time, in Iran, we had seven million people working in this sector. Today, they are no more than two million. ”

I’ve worked my whole life, it’s time to turn the page. I want to travel and take care of my consulate

Alexander Moghadam

An ancestral tradition for 2,500 years, the carpet industry has started to run out of steam in recent years, victims of competition from China in particular. But also because tastes have changed. “The younger generation prefers more contemporary rugs, plain and without a pattern. ” His son also runs a shop in Monaco, too, with modern furniture and rugs. He will take over from his father in January. “I’ve worked my whole life, it’s time to turn the page. I want to travel and take care of my consulate. ”

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Because in parallel with his activity, Alexander Moghadam takes care of managing the diplomatic interests of Nepal in Monaco. “This pays me dearly. They are wonderful people who live in poverty. We try to help them by organizing charity evenings. I also take care of issuing visas for tourists from the French Riviera who wish to go to Nepal. “ To the best of my mind.