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11292016 Hospitality Market Exclusive: A Busy BDNY Attracts More Rug Vendors Wanting to Break into the Sector

By Lisa Vincenti
11/29/2016
HOSPITALITY MARKET EXCLUSIVE: A BUSY BDNY ATTRACTS MORE RUG VENDORS WANTING TO BREAK INTO THE SECTOR

 

 

NEW YORK -- Some two dozen rug makers joined the swelling ranks of exhibitors at the seventh edition of BDNY, the boutique hotel design show held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center every November, proving the growing significance area rugs play in the booming hospitality market.


BDNY soft surface flooring exhibitors included established long-time hospitality players and a roster of newcomers, often rug manufacturers catering to custom residential or to-the-trade sources hoping to get in on the action. Among the floor covering players attending the 2016 show, held on Nov.  13-14, were Atlas Carpet, Couristan, Crosby Street Studios, ICE International, Innovative Carpets, Interface Hospitality, Lapama Rugs, Loloey, Loomah, Lucy Tupu, Nanimarquina, Nourison, Marc Phillips Rugs, Prestige Mills, OW Hospitality, Sacco Carpet, Shaw Hospitality, Surya Contract, Tai Ping Carpets, Wel International, Zenith Rugs.


In 2016, the fair shattered attendance records, drawing over 6,900 hospitality design professionals. Exhibit space increased 37 percent, and included a total of 80 carpet and flooring exhibitors out of a 615 exhibitors or 13 percent, with figures up from 72 carpet and flooring companies out of 550 exhibitors in 2015, according to BDNY organizers. 


A bustling BDNY, held on two days each November, is attracting more area rug vendors with each edition.

Area rugs have become a common feature at the latest hotel properties partly due to a growing preference among hotel operators to explore alternatives to wall-to-wall carpeting, long the mainstay of guest room.

According to Todd Nelson, vice president of Atlas Carpet Mills' Southern region, hotels are making the switch to alternative surfaces, including hard surface products, such as ceramic tile, hardwood and especially luxury vinyl tile (LVT). He said that hotels prefer LVT because of its ease of cleanup and longevity in comparison to broadloom. Several major hotel chains, including Marriott and Hilton, have already begun to specify LVT for guest rooms in some of their brands.


Michelle Finn, president of  Hospitality Media Group (HMG), which produces BDNY, echoes Nelson's sentiment, "We're seeing an increase in LVT hard surfacing flooring, and area rug application with hard surfacing materials."


BDNY exhibitors noted that when using a hard surface without an area rug, the look isn't complete. "We are doing more area rugs in hotel guest rooms as brands go to hard floors. An area rug under the bed completes the look," said Couristan Hospitality design director Samantha Jones, who created the Thanks a Bunch collection of contemporary florals, which ranges from hand-tufted wool to Axminster to multi-level cut loop and high resolution print designs, with a palette of neutral tones to deep sea blues.


While some hotels are hoping to bring a cozy, homey aesthetic to the guest room, others are looking to create unexpected scenarios that push boutique hotel design boundaries to the limit.

 


At BDNY, Liora Manne, displayed the Cosmic Cabanas collection, designed in collaboration with mixed media artist Anne Spalter (read full story). with wall textile and coordinating rug.


 

Liora Manne, who launched a collaborative collection called Cosmic Cabanas with mixed media artist Anne Spalter earlier this year, previewed an augmented-reality-embedded wall textile on the feature wall of her BDNY booth with a matching rug on the floor. As with Anne Spalter's digital art for Liora Manne's Lamontage rugs and coordinating textile products, New York designer Karim Rashid is being commissioned more frequently to create hospitality interiors that feature his signature digital age inflected work, "The hospitality sector should focus on positive energy, heightened experiences, culture, design, and art. It is a unique temporary home that fulfills and creates new fantasies," said Rashid, who debuted his latest rug collaboration with Italian rug atelier Loloey at the BDNY (read full story).

 

 

"Hotels, restaurants, spas and other public spaces should be a haven to enjoy, relax work, and engage in experiences that are memorable - unlike any anywhere else in the world," he explained. Rashid's new collection for Loloey, showcased in vibrant pink, reflects the influence of computer graphics on his style, which he dubs "digipop."

"NYC is the epicenter of hospitality -- every other building is a restaurant or hotel," Rashid added. "But there is little innovation in interior design in New York. You feel the show can open up minds of developers and decisions makers."


BDNY attracts more vendors with each installment and has created a showcase for contemporary and cutting-edge designs.


"Hospitality wants to show off and do something really beautiful and different," said Rogier Janssen, managing director of the Netherlands-based ICE International, which created an area rug for the Sterling Suite at the award-winning Langham, London. ICE has been attending BDNY for three years and plans on coming back in 2017.


A crowded OW Hospitality booth showcased the "layered" designs of Singed, a collection that gives designers the creative freedom to customize burnt out sections of carpet.


OW Hospitality, which participated in the inaugural BDNY show, introduced Singed at the 2016 edition of BDNY. The line, which takes the organic, natural trend to an extreme with its burnt out designs, allows designers to alter and/or remove various elements from the original motif for a custom look.  

"BDNY is a whole different animal," said Marc Partial, co-owner of Marc Phillips Rugs, with New York and L.A. showrooms. Partial tried the show three years ago and returned in 2016. "Here you have the Shaws and Couristans of the hospitality market to compete with, but we are trying to break in. All you need is one good client..."


"The Show has been really good - with a lot of the right people here," said Jonathan Peykar, who heads up Nourison's hospitality division. "Lots of designers are looking to go with a more residential look that is comfortable and warm."


ATLAS CARPET MILLS

 

Bold graphics in popular blues and greys capture the eye of show shoppers at the Atlas Carpet Mills booth. In front of new Backgammon (rug on far left wall) and bold angles of Configure, stand Atlas' Todd Nelson, Kat Reynolds from N.J. architecture and planning firm Minno & Wasko, Atlas' Michael Jugen, Allison Smith and Kim Vicery, both with Minno & Wasco.


COURISTAN HOSPITALITY

 

Couristan's Samantha James, U.S. design director, hospitality division, created the vibrant Thanks a Bunch collection of contemporary florals showcased in captivating blues.


A detail of an abstracted Thanks a Bunch hand-tufted wool rug at Couristan's 2016 BDNY booth.

 

ICE INTERNATIONAL

Marc Janssen, CEO and brother Rogier, managing director of ICE International based in The Netherlands, stand behind a table displaying designs with gradations and special effects.


INTERFACE


Interface's Charley Knight, who heads the hospitality division, introduces buyers to the company's LA Confidential, a new concept in which an area rug is integrated into its Brazilian wood flooring.


LAPAMA RUGS

The two-year-old Lapama Rugs exclusively produces area rugs for the hospitality industry. Bryan Miller, sales rep, with the Dalton, Georgia, company, gives BDNY attendees a tour.


LIORA MANNE

 

 

 



BDNY attendees Glenna Stone (of her eponymous Philadelphia interior architecture practice) and colleague Andrea Princiotta preview with Liora Manne an augmented reality wall textile the designer created in collaboration with artist Anne Spalter. Rugs from the collection will be showcased at Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, during Art Basel, Miami.


LOLOEY

William Loloey of the Italian rug atelier shares details of designer Karim Rashid's new rug collection Bill Ward of ABC Carpet & Home.


LUCY TUPU

Alice Hunt of Lucy Tupu, a New York City furniture, lighting and custom rug studio, poses with one of the company's new 'fine nylon' construction rug underfoot

MARC PHILLIPS

 


High-end residential rug showroom Marc Phillips' Agate rug (on the floor), designed by artist Kimberly McDonald, stops architect Coralina Meyer, with Masterworks Development, in her tracks. Marc Partial, left, and Steve Sparks, sales, introduce Meyer to the striking collection.


NANIMARQUINA

Nanimarquina's Sheena Shah, sales executive, is standing on the new dhurrie-style Tres collection, a new look for BDNY show attendees.


NOURISON

Jonathan Peykar, who heads up Nourison's hospitality group, plays host to Patricia Richey with Atlanta architectural practice tvs design, and Robert Unger, with DH Elements in Virginia.
 
Nourison shows off its custom capabilities with carpet design on walls pattern-matched to the floorcovering in its BDNY exhibit space.

OW HOSPITALITY 

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