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Shopping for Fashion at the Atlanta Winter Area Rug Market, Part 1

By Carol Tisch
2/3/2018
SHOPPING FOR FASHION AT THE ATLANTA WINTER AREA RUG MARKET, PART 1


ATLANTA -- The first major show of 2018 -- the winter edition of the Atlanta International Rug Market -- attracted a number of sought after rug buyers from e-commerce to brick and mortar stores to interior designers -- all seeking out fresh new color, texture and design.
 
In RugNews.com's first of two People & Products roundup reports, we take you on a shopping tour of Atlanta Market, where we suss out the retailers, designers and suppliers who made the market happen and the products that captured the attention of show shoppers. A highlight of the week's activities, the America's Magnificent Carpet Awards sponsored by AmericasMart and the National Oriental Rug Show (NORS), offered a preview of the trends that will be on the radar of buyers for months to come (read full story).

Below we cover companies from Amer Rugs to Linon Home. Be sure to check out Part 2 of this special report for companies Loloi to United Weavers. 

AMER RUGS


The team from Rug & Home in North Carolina, says ole to Amer Rugs' Mexican fiesta event on opening night of Atlanta Market. From left, Joe Barkley and Tanuj Gupta of Amer, Rakesh and Dolly Agarwal and Casey Bleier of Rug & Home and Tim Schantz of Amer stand in front of desings from the hot new Boho collection. 

Posing in front of Amer's best-selling Synergy collection, from left, Mahmud Jafri and Hasan Jafri of Dover Rug & Home in Natick, Massachusetts, with Tanuj Gupta of Amer. The transitional designs are hand-knotted of hand spun New Zealand wool.

BOKARA RUG


From left: Pete Muellegger, Oriental Rug Gallery in Lincolnshire, Illinois; David Lew, Bokara; Samer and Safi Kaskas of Kaskas Oriental Rugs in Austin, Texas, stop in to see Bokara's newest Canterbury Select designs. 


Front and center at the Bokara Rug AmericasMart showroom was a show-stopping design from the debuting Neo Villa Mosaic collection, a hit for its vintage styled mosaic motif hand knotted of wool and silk.

COURISTAN


Ron Couri and Steve Couri of Couristan pose in front of a design from the 100 percent wool Om collection, which won a 2018 America's Magnificent Carpets Award in the hand-knotted ($0 -$30 per square foot) category.

 
A closeup of Couristan's winning Om collection design, which was a magnet for market shoppers looking for fashion-forward but livable products incorporating Ultra-Violet, Pantone's Color of the Year 2018. 

DALYN


Ronnie Jaffar of Dalyn Rugs and Joe Eden of Carolina Factory Outlet in Hudson, Florida, take time out from busy order-writing to pose in front of a new Antigua collection design.

 
A traditional design is spiffed up with fresh fashion colors and texture in the Korba collection, a new launch at the Dalyn showroom.

DYNAMIC RUGS


From left: Shane Edwards of Rooms to Go, Anoosha Rouhanian, Dynamic Rugs, Monika Schwartz of Rooms to Go, Matthew Rouhanian, Dynamic Rugs, in front of an Ancient Garden collection rug.


Dynamic Rugs' hit introduction in Atlanta, the brand-new Trance collection got overwhelmingly positive feedback. "We're already committing a lot of inventory to it," says Anoosha Rouhanian of the handmade viscose range, which features a subtle intertwining of color and texture.

HAROUNIAN RUGS INTERNATIONAL (HRI)


 
Greg Jordt of HRI, Cheryl Tate of Cottages Unlimited in Birmingham, Alabama, and Jeff Hagedorn of HRI stand in front of the debuting Celest collection -- hand knotted of wool and viscose in striking transitional designs. 


Harounian Rugs International premieres the Milan collection of subtly patterned and softly colored transitional designs hand knotted of wool and viscose with a ribbed textural high and low pile. 

JAIPUR LIVING


Miriam Thompson of The Rug Rack in Chattanooga is on the hunt for a one of a kind rug for a client with the help of Larry Morris of Jaipur Living during the Atlanta International Area Rug Market. 


Winter market shoppers found new additions to Jaipur Living's best-selling Genesis collection, including this sophisticated abstract design featuring watercolor elements punctuated by bold color in viscose and wool. (Shown, GES 19.)

KALEEN


At Kaleen's busy showroom two retailers take time out for a photo op. From left: Blake Dennard of Kaleen, Sam Presnell of The Rug Gallery in Cincinnati, Niko Papadopoulos and Kathryn Sergenian of Sergenian's in Madison, Wisconsin, and Monty Rathi of Kaleen.


Kaleen's new Ceneri collection, handmade of wool and micro-looped for added texture, premieres with 10 modern and transitional patterns in on-point colorways. A 5x7.9 retails at $399.

KARASTAN

 

Karastan scored with its two Atlanta intros: Revelry (avove) a heavy woven shag of SmartStrand and polypropylene in one yarn system in transitional to contemporary patterns, and Decollage (below), an Axminster collection of New Zealand wool and viscose with deconstructed contemporary designs in high end hand-knotted looks


KAS RUGS

 
From left: Faith Hayes and Laura Weber of Purchasing Power in Atlanta, pose with Sandy Ford of KAS in front of a sophisticated cowhide design from the rug maker's new Verve collection.


At Atlanat Market KAS unveils Verve, a unique cowhide collection featuring foil embellishments and wool-felt backing. This black patch stripe with hints of metallic was a buyer favorite.

LINON/POWELL



Steve Mazarakis of Linon Home with Elise Bagni of Home Goods in front of the new Emerald collection, designed to create the look of Persian hand-knotted silk Qom Rugs. The Emerald range (also pictured below) features new, fashion-forward tones to update classic medallion patterns which are heat transfer printed on a polyester suede fabric with felt backing. $99 for 5x7.

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