We’re proud to share that our Operations Manager, Jake Puente, received his Certified Rug Specialist (CRS) designation at the annual convention for the Association of Rug Care Specialists (ARCS) in Portland this past April. He is CRS #85, and to our knowledge, the only Certified Rug Specialist active in Washington state.
Jake Puente’s CRS Certificate
Jake has been with D.A. Burns since 1998, when he started at 18 years old. Over the years he worked his way up to Manager of our Repair & Fabrication Department, and about two years ago he stepped into the role of Operations Manager. After nearly three decades of working with rugs of every type, the CRS designation puts a formal credential behind that experience.
The CRS course is a five-day advanced rug identification seminar run by Ellen Amirkhan of Oriental Rug Cleaning Co. in Dallas. Ellen is well known and respected across the rug cleaning industry. The program is aimed at people who already have a good foundation in rug cleaning and identification and are looking to take their skills to the next level. You can’t just sign up. You have to be an ARCS member in good standing, and you need to be cleared by the ARCS education committee to make sure you have the background knowledge to keep up with the material.
The course goes beyond just naming where a rug came from. It covers how to identify rugs that aren’t so obvious, common pre-existing conditions you’d expect to see on certain rug types, cleaning considerations specific to those rugs, and the kind of conversational knowledge that helps you speak with authority when discussing a rug.
At the end of the five days, candidates must pass both a written and verbal rug identification test. Most people spend six months or more studying before they even take the class. After that, candidates have to write a paper on a topic related to the rug care industry. The CRS designation isn’t something you can cram for over a weekend.
Jake pictured with Ellen Amirkhan, owner of Oriental Rug Cleaning Co. in Dallas and the instructor behind the CRS course.
D.A. Burns was one of the founding members of ARCS, and our CEO, James Kruse, serves on the Board as Treasurer. ARCS is an international organization of rug cleaners founded to raise the quality of area rug care across the industry, and they do that through educational programs, plant tours, visits to carpet mills and rug dealers, and a spirit of sharing knowledge between members of every size and ability level. Having Jake earn his CRS is something we’re really proud of. If you visit the “Find a Specialist” page on the ARCS website and look up D.A. Burns, you’ll see the CRS Designation listed on our profile.
Congrats, Jake. Well earned.