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06082016 Top Names in Rugs Score at Hospitality Design Show

By Carol Tisch
6/8/2016

TOP NAMES IN RUGS SCORE AT HOSPITALITY DESIGN SHOW


Couristan's show-stopping HD Expo booth featured three cubic columns, each a towering 20 feet tall and carpeted with a design from a new hospitality carpet line called 'Thanks a Bunch'.


LAS VEGAS -- Rug and broadloom companies targeting the hospitality interiors market were upbeat coming off last month's record-breaking HD Expo at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. Nearly 900 international exhibitors displayed their wares, among them hospitality broadloom bigwigs Couristan, OW Hospitality, Masland and Shaw. Rug companies had a strong showing too, from hospitality design veterans like Liora Manne and Kravet, to Surya -- a relative newcomer which is growing steadily in the field.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary in Las Vegas at last month's show, HD Expo broke previous attendance records with 10,670 guests from around the world -- a four percent increase in attendees from the previous year. Rug executives queried by RugNews.com said the excitement in the halls was palpable, with demand increasing as more designers opt for custom rugs to warm up hard surface flooring in luxury properties, not just in public spaces, but trending in guest rooms as well. 

"We truly got our return on investment; we made a lot of connections this year." -- Larry Mahurter, Couristan

"The HD traffic for us this year was outstanding.  We probably had more sales leads generated from that particular market than we've had from any market in the last year and a half, including the Casual show in Chicago which is always a big one for us. We truly got our return on investment this year," said Larry Mahurter, vice president of advertising and marketing at Couristan.

Mahurter attributes the success in part to Couristan's dramatic booth design (lead photo above). "The booth was stunning and actually drew a lot of traffic for us. People were overwhelmed by the appearance," he explained. The display featured three cubic columns about 20 feet tall, each carpeted with a design from a new carpet line called 'Thanks a Bunch', which was introduced at the HD Expo. Inspired by abstract water color paintings, the patterns were well received by designers, Mahurter said.

"It's a great audience for us--hospitality design is a big part of my business." -- Liora Manne

"The show was very successful for us -- HD Expo is the equivalent of a fashion show in our world. It's a great audience for us: Hospitality design is a big part of my business," said Liora Manne of the eponymous designer rug and textile brand featuring Manne's hand-tufted rugs and patented Lamontage products. "At the show we create a vision of how the product will look on the floors and walls, so designers can see the possibilities."

Exhibiting at both HD Expo and BDNY for the past five years, Manne said designers are increasingly coordinating custom patterns across her range of rugs, wall textiles, and upholstery and pillow fabrics. "There is a lot of interest in the medium. In both our residential and hospitality custom work, designers love that we can translate the same design on the walls, ceiling, floors and furniture."


At her HD Expo exhibit space, designer Liora Manne displayed samples showing custom capabilities of her rugs and textiles for coordinated walls, floors, furniture and pillows in hospitality installations.

 
 
At HD Expo 2016, Surya Contract featured a Phoenix custom wool rug, which is robo-tufted in the USA in Calhoun, Ga, layered over a Medora rug constructed of viscose and hair-on-hide.

Tom Etheridge, vice president of Surya Contract, said the debuts of the new Surya Contract branding and the company's custom rug program garnered a lot of interest from the hospitality design show's attendees. "As part of the new custom program, we offer convenient pom boxes that let designers see a sampling of available yarn colors and textures," Etheridge said.

"Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for designers to create contract spaces that are not only highly functional but also relaxing, inviting and even fun. That's why we take a very holistic approach to design, developing contract grade rugs, lighting, art and pillows that are as visually impressive as they are durable and comfortable. We're excited about this next chapter of our evolution," he continued.

Renamed Surya Contract in March, the company's commercial business began as a hospitality division in late 2013, and has gained significant momentum in the hotel field, providing area rugs and other accessories to a wide range of properties and resorts.

"We debuted our new custom rug program, which received a lot of interest from expo attendees." -- Tom Etheridge, Surya Contract


RESIDENTIAL AND HOSPITALITY TRENDS MERGING

According to rug exhibitors serving both hospitality and residential audiences, the two often influence one another when it comes to fashion and lifestyle trends. At HD Expo, hospitality carpet introductions mirrored the distressed, sculpted and abstract art motifs selling well in the residential rug arena. That's also the case with the growing use of hardwood and laminates in meeting rooms, restaurants, and increasingly in guest rooms. Consumers' preference for hardwood floors in their homes has led to the specification of rugs in hotel bedrooms and suites to add warmth with color and pattern, said Liora Manne. "In the last year or so, I've noticed an increase in the use of area rugs in guest rooms at many high-end properties," she told RugNews.com.


A custom rug in Liora Manne's patented Lamontage provides an architectural focal point in an all-white guest room at the Delano Hotel in Miami.

Couristan's Mahurter agreed. "We are seeing more and more hard surface floors in the guest rooms and bedrooms of hotels, and they are asking for different complementary rugs for the bedroom and living room in suites. We just did the guest rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota that shows this: we used two different hand-tufted products for the guest rooms and also some of the public spaces. There is definitely an uptick in this category right now," he said.


A suite at the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota features a custom beach-themed hand-tufted rug by Couristan to soften dark hardwood floors with a residential look.



A Surya Contract rug anchors a seating arrangement and complements dark stained wide plank floors at the W Atlanta in Buckhead.

PRESTIGIOUS PRODUCT AWARDS

Two familiar names to retail buyers, Oriental Weavers and Surya, are finalists in the 2016 annual HD Awards, which are sponsored by HD Magazine to honor some of  the best achievements -- in both project and product categories -- in hospitality design around the globe. 

In the products section of the this year's awards, more than 300 products were submitted in 11 categories, including Flooring, Casegoods + Furniture, and Sustainability. OW Hospitality is up for the award for Best in Flooring for its new Formations collection, and Surya is a 2016 HD Product Award finalist in the sustainability category for its 100 percent Tencel Biltmore rug.
 

The new Formations collection from OW Hospitality interprets the textures and movement of the earth's geologic formations, and has been named an HD Awards finalist in the Flooring category. 


Introduced at HD Expo, the Biltmore rug by Surya is hand tufted of environmentally friendly Tencel and is a finalist in the Sustainability category in the HD Awards for 2016.

Winners in each category will be revealed at the HD Awards ceremony on June 8, 2016 at Cipriani in New York City. Best in Show honorees will also be celebrated and all winning and finalist projects and products will also be featured in the June issue of HD magazine.

HD Expo is presented in association with the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID); the International Interior Design Association (IIDA); the International Society of Hospitality Purchasers (ISHP); the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ); the Boutique Hotel Member Association (BLLA); and NEWH, Inc. -- the Hospitality Industry Network.

HD Expo 2017 will take place at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, May 3-5, 2017.

HOSPITALITY SOFT SURFACE TRENDS

 

Theming and customization are often the criteria for award winning hospitality designs, and their work at the James Royal Palm Hotel in Miami earned Rottet Studio three coveted international awards. The colorful vignette and detail photos below illustrate Rottet's use of Liora Manne's custom rugs, wall textiles and upholstery fabric to create a modern art setting.
 
 

 
The Ritz-Carlton Sarasota's beach locale is expressed in themed Couristan rugs (shown below) in sky and sand colors. The hand-tufted custom rugs complement light wood floors in a Concierge Level lounge and seating areas, illustrating a move away from the exclusive use of wall-to-wall carpet in these spaces. 
 
 

 


Surya Contract rugs (below) were specified throughout the public spaces of W Atlanta in Buckhead, from seating areas to a bar lounge and this transitional rug adorning an open patio. 



 

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