Mr. Costikyan, also known as S. Kent Costikyan (formerly Siragram Simon Costikyan), and his family immigrated to Rochester, New York from Constantinople (now modern-day Istanbul Turkey) in the late 19^th century. He went on to become a student at Colgate University, and his family continued to work in the rug trade as they have been doing for generations. One day, his family received a shipment of rugs to New York and their buyer forfeited payment. His family asked Mr. Costikyan if he could attempt to sell the rugs to his professors, which he did successfully. It was in this moment that his appetite for the rug industry developed. Soon thereafter, Mr. Costikyan founded Costikyan Freres in Rochester, New York in 1886.

In those days, the disposal of choice rugs at private sale, to any extent, was out of the question. Costikyan Freres forwarded important collections of rugs semi-annually to New York for disposal at the then leading Ortgies Art Galleries on Broadway below 14^th street. Many of the rare antiques, now in New York homes and other major cities, were acquired at those sales, which contributed toward the introduction of oriental rugs on a large scale.