Abbas Ibrahim Kayam was the secondary owner of Kayam Carpets, Ltd., founded by his brother Husteni Ibrahim Kayam. The two came from an Indian Muslim trading family. The brothers built a highly specialized supply chain importing hand-knotted woolen rugs from traditional weaving hubs like Bhadohi and Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, India. In the 1940s, the family formalized their U.K. operations as Kayam Carpets Ltd. to manage their growing wholesale footprint. To directly compete with elite colonial-era institutions like the Oriental Carpet Manufacturers (OCM), the Kayam family established a central London headquarters to complement their dedicated Manchester provincial showroom. The Kayam family maintained direct operational ownership and executive control until the late 1970s. At that point, the company transitioned into a corporate structure and was absorbed by the floor-coverings division of the Scottish Heritable Trust holding group.

            Kayam Carpets (eventually part of Eastern Kayam and Oriental Carpet Manufacturers) was a well-known national wholesaler and retailer of handmade Oriental and Indian carpets that operated a regional branch at 41a High Street, Manchester during the mid-20th century. Rather than being an independently owned local Manchester family enterprise, the Manchester premises functioned as a provincial showroom and distribution hub for the corporate entity Kayam Carpets Ltd, which was headquartered in London at 4, 6, & 8 Newton Street as Eastern Carpets Limited and was ultimately governed by corporate ownership groups such as Trans Continental Carpets and the Scottish Heritable Trust. In the 1940s, the Manchester showrooms contained “a large and varied stock of the choicest Indian, Chinese and Persian Carpets famous makes of British Curl, Fleece and Wool Rugs; all kinds of Indian and Dutch Coco-Mattings, Mouzourks, Jute Stairs and Brush Mats; Furnishing and Upholstery Fabrics and other inexpensive selling lines,” and had agents throughout Britain.[1] The company was liquidated in 1999.

[1] Advertisement for Kayam Carpets Ltd., Carpet Review 3: 36 (September 1949): 24.