NEOCON ROUNDUP:
RUGS EXHIBITORS SCORE WITH CONTRACT PRODUCTS & PROGRAMS
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CHICAGO -- Enthusiasm and economic optimism marked the mood among rug exhibitors at NeoCon 2018, the 50th anniversary of the nation's major contract market, held June 11-13 at the Chicago Merchandise Mart.
Optimism showed up in several "firsts": Surya opened its first permanent Chicago showroom, Tai Ping launched its first U.S. contract program, Tufenkian unveiled a major contract effort with its exclusive "Made for the Trade" collection, and Chilewich showed a new product category of light-duty contract flooring. Edelman Leather, which represents the Kyle Bunting brand, generated enthusiasm with the designer's latest hide-and- hair patterned rugs, and Direct Rug Import devoted 30 percent of its offerings to new designs.
And the contract industry responded. The lobby of the iconic Chicago building was packed on opening day, as show-goers waited patiently in long morning lines for an elevator. The more impatient attendees took to the stairs for rug floors 6, 7, 10 and 14. Exhibitors, architects, designers and their clients came from around the globe: Europe, China, the Cayman Islands, South America and closer to home, NY, Washigton, DC, and the Midwest.
Second day attendance continued strong, despite the traffic jam outside as cabs, cars and limos were prevented from using the front Mart driveway by construction barriers as the Mart prepared for a Mohawk-sponsored tent party celebrating NeoCon's 50th anniversary.
Optimism showed up, too, in bolder color variations -- especially in the yellows, golds and desert tones -- joining deeper, clearer shades of blues, greens, mauve and rusty oranges. Even key antique rug exhibitors featured these fresher looking colors in more casual, tribal patterns.
SURYA
At Surya's new designer showroom, its first in Chicago, president Satya Tiwari and team members Shelley Braley, regional sales manager, left, and Anne Callahan, sales specialist in Chicago, introduce a host of NeoCon products.
Surya, which has carefully built its contract operation, opened its first permanent Chicago showroom (619) in time for NeoCon 2018 and a steady flow of show-goers stopped by to catch a glimpse and offer congratulations.
"Surya being here will be good for our business; they will generate more traffic," confided another 6th floor exhibitor.
"We wanted to be closer to our designer customers," explained Satya Tiwari, Surya's president. "Designers are very important to our business, and national shows are only once a year. Having a local presence, where designers can come in and bring their clients, is very important."
In commercial, rugs are essential here and globally, he added. Surya has also expanded its accessory lines, from upholstered pillows to lighting, to better serve designers and other clients. Tiwari is looking to open seven more showrooms in the next few years.
Surya opens the doors to its first Chicago showroom, a hot topic of chatter during NeoCon among clients, prospects and even competitors who feel the brand will increase regular traffic to the building with its growing commercial and residential assortments of rugs and accessories.
STARK
Stark's Midwest regional manager Robert Gould said the company highlighted its Sapphire custom rugs, as well as stock designs from Stark Studio Rugs.
Robert Gould, Midwest regional manager for Stark, is very upbeat about the outlook for the high-end firm's Stark Studio and Sapphire Collection rugs. "The market and the traffic are better than last year. The halls and the showrooms are busier," said Gould.
The large, brightly lit Stark showroom is a redesign, to create a "visually stimulating" backdrop for the firm's vast assortment of lush, multi-textured rugs, he explained.
Viera, a pale blue-and-ice Sapphire collection wool and silk rug in the window stopped traffic and drew show-goers into Stark's renovated light, airy showroom during NeoCon.
Stopping traffic in Stark's front window was Velia, a sophisticated, hand-knotted cut pile wool-and-silk rug in the Amaal group of the newest Sapphire collection. Earth tones appear in icy, cloud-like patterns on a gray ground, interspersed with lively mauve and pale blues. Price points range from $10,000 to $18,000, sizes from 9x12 to 10x14.
Stark works with a range of clients from wholesalers to residential and commercial interior designers. Its contract work is generally in the hospitality industry.
EDELMAN
Edelman Leather drew heavy traffic for its latest Kyle Bunting hair-on-hide designs and the vast potential for custom color the line offers.
Designer Kyle Bunting's unique hair-on-hide rugs drew enthusiastic show-goers into the 6th floor showroom of Edelman Leather, which is representing Bunting for the third year.
"Kyle Bunting invented hair-on-hide rugs, and the rugs are getting a lot of attention," said Jane Evans, showroom manager. "Each piece is like a work of art." Customers, however, had no hesitation walking on them through the showroom.
An attractive vignette pulls show-goers deeper into the Edelman showroom, with Bunting's extensive leather color palette on one wall. The vignette features a cushy chair, upholstered in a soft, sea foam-tone leather, sitting atop a circular hide-on-hair patterned rug utilizing slashes of teal ("lagoon") and Portobello on an aluminum ground.
Edelman Leather's showroom featured the attention-grabbing circular Kyle Bunting Shadowplay rug in lagoon, portobello and aluminum tones.
Bunting's custom rugs are going primarily into residential projects, through designers, Evans said, but they are also being specified for hospitality and some contract for lobbies.
NOURE'S ORIENTAL RUG INC.
Darius Nateghi of Noure's Oriental Rug brought hundreds of rugs to his new Mart showroom, the former Marshall Field's 3,600 square foot space.
Noure's is very positive about the economy, according to Darius Nateghi at NeoCon. "Our new products are doing well. Chicago is the third largest market, and it's good for us," said Nateghi, surrounded by hundreds of rugs in rolls, piles, on the walls and pillars.
To capture more of the market, Noure's has moved to a new 3,600-square- foot showroom, more than twice the size its previous Merchandise Mart space. Noure's new home was the former Marshall Field's showroom, and the firm has restored long-covered windows and signature Marshall Field's doors, with its iconic grillwork at the bottom.
As Nateghi pointed out some new designs, the fresh-looking yellows, brighter greens and desert sand tones, plus lighter cranberry hues were in evidence, often in more casual tribal rugs. "Right now, casual is big," he said.
Noure's new products - antique rugs - are doing well, and the company reports some big hospitality projects in Asia and at home in the Midwest.
Noure's sells through architects and interior designers, doing big business with architecture firms on the east and west coasts, and Nateghi mentioned some big projects in Malaysia, Japan and Beijing - specifically hotels, lobbies and executive suites. "And we just did a hotel (Metro) in Milwaukee and the new Heinz headquarters in Chicago."
TAI PING CARPETS
On Day 2 of NeoCon, Tai Ping's Shawn Hiltz pointed out some of his favorite designs highlighting the company's Chicago launch.
RugNews caught up with Shawn Hiltz, chief strategy officer, for Tai Ping Carpets - as he was headed back to Hong Kong - to talk about the company's major contract thrust at NeoCon.
"This is the official Tai Ping contract launch for the U.S. market," Hiltz said, "and the response has been entirely positive." He credits Tai Ping's creativity and ability to tailor custom solutions, noting that big corporate customers have asked him to come out to see them in their states. And customers and clients came to see Tai Ping from all over, including the Cayman Islands, Washington D.C., Houston, New York, Boston and throughout the Midwest.
"We're known for residential (The House of Tai Ping includes Tai Ping, Edward Fields and La Manufacture Cogolin) but now that we have the expanded Tai Ping Contract program, we're getting a broader segment of business, working with customers comprehensively," he said, noting some of those customers include big firms like KPMG and Gensler.
Capturing attention in the showroom was a bit of carpet glitter, subtly woven into an array of samples. Color, too, is making a stronger statement but in soft palettes such as a dusty pink/mauve, said Hiltz.
"It's been all beiges and grays, so we're introducing color - in wool carpet tiles and in broadloom. We've designed both tile and broadloom in coordinated colors to create cohesive product lines. Tai Ping dyes fibers in-house for each job, so the company is able to match colors across qualities.
"This way, a large corporation like Avon, for instance, can come to us for everything from the reception area to the back of the house," Hiltz said.
CHILEWICH
Chilewich co-owner Joseph Sultan sits on a cube covered in the new Dart pattern introduced at NeoCon in broadloom and tile for light-duty contract flooring installations.
Chilewich, which produces heavy duty commercial tiles, planks and rolls of vinyl and fiberglass, has adapted its wall covering concepts for a new line of light-duty flooring suitable for the hospitality industry, hospitals, homes, small offices and other installations.
The firm, founded by Sandy Chilewich to provide placemats and floor mats to retailers, is co-owned with husband Joseph Sultan, and today produces woven floor mats for commercial flooring installations.
At NeoCon, a slubbed, off-white wall covering called Tidal, provided a subtle backdrop for the firm's product lines, including a new updated basket-weave pattern called Dart, which was initially designed for a high-end European retailer. Dart was also showcased as upholstery on seating cubes in the temporary showroom, and is offered if four additional colorways.
TUFENKIAN
Tufenkian's new "Made for the Trade" collection of exclusive carpet designs received a very good reception at NeoCon, said Emily Mundwiller, showroom manager.
Tufenkian highlighted its new "Made for the Trade" collection, exclusive to interior designers and architects, and available through its website, Tufenkian.com.
Although Tufenkian showrooms are open to the public, Made for the Trade rugs will be priced at full retail, which is approximately $120 a square foot.
A small number of colorways will be programmed into the line, but a wide variety of custom colors and sizes will be available.
At NeoCon, Tufenkian showcased two stunning 8x10 wool rugs along one wall: "City Lights Twilight" in a range of a blues with mauve inset, and the wildly multi-colored "Bedaya Iron."
"Designers want exclusives, and our Made for the Trade website has received very good reception," said Emily Mundwiller, showroom manager "We wanted to get it in front of designers at NeoCon."
Midway through NeoCon, Mundwiller had seen a number of new designers from around the Midwest - Nashville, St. Louis, Michigan, Wisconsin and Chicago. Many used to work for big firms but have gone out on their own as one or two-person firms, she said.
Mundwiller finds success by building relationships, generating face-time with new designers, and existing clients. "I go out and make calls," she said, "taking samples of things they've requested, but I also take along something new I think they like."
Most of these designers are doing residential, but some are working with high-end hospitals, law firms and corporations and a growing number in hospitality.
DIRECT RUG IMPORT/RUG IMPORT
At his busy NeoCon space, Amir Pouya (left) of Rug Import/Direct Rug Import, gets a surprise visit from Indiana neighbor, Del Bloss, Global Fine Art of South Bend.
Amir Pouya, designer and an owner of Rug Import and Direct Rug Import, reported strong traffic on opening day of NeoCon, which followed a lot enthusiasm for his new designs at Domotex in Hanover.
At NeoCon, Pouya noted that roughly 30 percent of the rug designs were new - from Nepal, Kashmir and Tibet, with some from Turkey and Afghanistan. Most of his business, both in rugs and in the repair/restoration facet, comes from referrals, from word of mouth. Direct Rug Import clients tend to be large architectural firms and designers.
As far as today's rug trends, Pouya is finding it more difficult to predict where the customer is headed. But he does see a strong move away from traditional antique rugs to more modern designs, which he exhibited in fresh colors and more casual patterns at NeoCon 2018.
"I'm very concerned, though, about the future of traditional rugs," he said.
"The techniques, the devotion of the weaving families are being lost. Without knowledge of the past, without the stories told in antique rugs, the stories will die along with the weaving families who create them," Pouya said.
The fourth-generation firm operates as Direct Rug Import in Chicago, Rug Import near Granger, Ind., and has 17,000 square feet of showroom, cleaning/repair and storage in nearby South Bend, Ind.