LAS VEGAS -- Commensurate with Sin City's sweltering heat, Las Vegas Market delivered a dizzying number of star-studded events, seminars, parties and exhibitors at the summer 2016 edition last week, and RugNews.com's People and Parties report has the first look at top photo ops inside rug showrooms and across the World Market Center campus. Though attendance was lighter than expected by several of the rug exhibitors queried, quality buyers seemed to make up for quantity -- as did appearances by former Brady Bunch star Christopher Knight at United Weavers' showroom for the launch of Christopher Knight Home Collection, by Feizy's Haute Couture collection designers for the official debut of their rugs (read full story), and by Jaipur Living's licensing partner, designer Jennifer Adams, who led a cocktails and conversation event at the showroom with her rugs and dec pillows as backdrops (read full story).
Highlighting the markets roster of design industry celebs were Donny Osmond (who has a licensing program with KAS), the Beekman Boys and the Property Brothers, and design junkies also had plenty of opportunities to meet and greet Bobby Berk (a Surya licensor), Justina Blakeney and Dann Foley (whose rugs licenses are with Loloi) as well as tastemakers Barclay Butera, Michael Moloney, Libby Langdon, and Christopher Kennedy.
AMER
Raj Choudhary of Amer Rugs, Anupriya Choudhary, Krista Selman of Tuesday Morning, Joe Barkley and Molly Mays of Amer stand in front of lustrous Mount Route rugs, which are hand knotted in India with art silk motifs on a New Zealand wool ground.
CAPEL
Celebrating the debut of Capel's new World Market Center showroom are Joelle Nelson and Chanelle Anderson of Gatehouse Furniture & Design, Gil Flores, Western Regional Manager, Capel Rugs, Stephanie Holdaway, Gatehouse Furniture & Design and Cameron Capel, Vice-President, Capel.
DYNAMIC RUGS
Bijan Farrokhi of Rug Palace in Sand Diego, Calif., with Matthew Rouhanian of Dynamic Rugs in front of Quartz collection rug, one of the company's best-selling summer market introductions. Machine-made with a vintage look, the line is a wool look-alike, but crafted of polyester and viscose.
FEIZY
Gravitating to the brilliantly jewel-toned ikat and tribal designs at the Feizy Las Vegas showroom, the team from Penny Rammer Interior Design of Danville, Calif., poses with John Feizy of Feizy Rugs. From left are Penny Rammer, Karen Kaufman, Suzanne Peterson and Lauren Rammer.
HRI
Greg Jordt, HRI, Cyrus Mafi, Mafi International Corp., Seattle, Washington, and Deo Jugmohan of HRI in front of the new Castle collection, which is hand knotted in a blend of New Zealand and Bikaner wools in modern interpretations of classic Persian designs.
JAIPUR LIVING
Yogesh Chaudhary of Jaipur and Driscoll Robbins of Driscoll Robbins Fine Furniture in Seattle, Washington in front of an innovative hand-knotted rug designed by Jaipur's Kavita Chaudhary, creator of the award-winning Kavi collection.
Asha Chaudhary, president, Jaipur Living, with Jennifer Adams, an award-winning interior designer, at a summer 2016 Las Vegas Market event with Adams' newest rugs and decorative pillows for Jaipur on display in the background.
KALEEN
Kaleen's Blake Dennard and Ty Strader flank Elena Ostergren of Wayfair in Boston in front of a Sea Isle collection indoor outdoor polypropylene rug with special K-Stop non-skid backing, shown in yellow and blue colorways.
KAS
Lauren Taggart, senior vendor manager at Amazon Canada, and Santhi Yarlagadda of KAS, stand in front of Ocean Lagoon (left) and Taupe Flora rugs from the indoor-outdoor Harbor collection, which is hand-hooked in China and UV-treated.
LOLOI
Loloi's Jane Aguirre and Steven Loloi flank Cynthia Rizzo of KR Design in Guadalajara, Mexico in front of an erased-look design from the rug maker's popular power-loomed Anastasia Collection, which features distressed traditional designs in updated colors.
Nine-month-old Hadley Smith checks out the texture of an abstract Viera collection power loomed polypropylene rug at the Loloi showroom during summer 2016 Las Vegas Market. With Hadley are Anne-Marie Barton of AMB Design in Salt Lake City, and her mom Wendy Smith, also of AMB.
MOMENI
Ali Momeni, Momeni Inc., and Kamran Baghestanian of Urban 57 Home Decor and Design of Sacramento, Calif., pose in front of a shimmering charcoal grey Chalet collection of wool and viscose (hand loomed in India).
NOURISON
Owen Baker and Melissa Woppert of Nourison flank Natalie Phan and Dung Hoang of United Furniture in Santa Rosa, Calif. They are standing in front of multi-textured Cooper rugs of cotton and hair-on-hide by Barclay Butera for Nourison.
NULOOM
Koorosh Yaraghi reports Nuloom's Las Vegas market best-sellers included the distressed look Vintage Corbett of polypropylene frisee from the Casablanca collection (on floor) and the debuting polypropylene Sultanabad collection, printed to achieve a distressed effect (shown in the Rose design).
ORIAN RUGS
Jeff Hughes, VP of design and product development of Orian Rugs, reviews the new Carolina Wild Next Generation collection with Donald Dilliplane, buyer at Art Van Furniture of Warren, MI at Orian's Las Vegas showroom. Transitional and traditional designs are crafted in a palette of over 24 unique color combinations.
ORIENTAL WEAVERS
David Moss and William Baker of Oriental Weavers flank Aimee Concepcion and Sara Sugarman of Lulu & Georgia, West Hollywood, Calif. The Galaxy collection rug behind them is hand-crafted of wool and viscose in a vivid abstract design.
SAFAVIEH
Darioush Yaraghi of Safavieh, Sara Weaver of Gilt Groupe, Ashley Yaraghi of Safavieh, Erin Aiken of Gilt Groupe pause for a photo at the home furnishings company's World Market Center showroom at the summer 2016 Las Vegas Market.
SURYA
Cheryl Zimmerman and Michael Baker of House to Home in Cambridge, Wis., pose with Surya's Seth King in front of a new Medora collection hand-crafted rug blending viscose and hair on hide to create contrasting colors and textures.
TAYSE
Cody Barlow of Tayse, Earle Harner of Apple Tree in State College, Penn., Laila Bohac of Tayse are standing in front of the a watercolor-inspired marbleized design from the brand new, machine made in Turkey Winslow collection, debuting at Las Vegas market.
UNITED WEAVERS
Actor Christopher Knight (of Brady Bunch fame) introduces the Christopher Knight Collection to Las Vegas Market shoppers with Wasim Abu Hadba, vice president of United Weavers of America, licensee of the line which debuts with a collection of 12 rugs.