11162010 Boutique Design Show Targets Contract Hospitality Market

BOUTIQUE DESIGN NY SHOW TARGETS CONTRACT HOSPITALITY MARKET

At the OW Hospitality booth, from left: Walt Hartsfield, Oriental Weavers broadloom operations mgr.; Hope Quintanar-Case, US national sales director for OW Contract, and Jonathon Witt, vice president of Oriental Weavers of America.

By Lissa Wyman

NEW YORK -- Contract hospitality-design (HD) professionals were the target audience for the  first edition of the Boutique Design NY show held here Nov. 14 and 15. The Boutique Show was part of the International Hotel, Motel and Restaurant Show at New York's Javits Center, Nov. 13 to 16.

Carpet and Rug exhibitors included Nourison, OW Contract, Innovative Carpets and Malene B.

The huge Hotel-Motel-Restaurant show was held in the cavernous exhibit halls of New York's Jacob Javits Center and included every imaginable hospitality industry product category from janitorial supplies to coffee making machines.

The Boutique Design fair was making its debut at this year's event. It was located in a small adjunct hall at the Javits Center and featured companies devoted to high design and custom interior furnishings.  Many of the Boutique Show's products were aimed at smaller "boutique" installations with a high value placed on customization and individualized attention.

The show did not have many carpet and rug exhibitors, but it was apparent that at least two major rug players were aggressively diversifying their product strategy into this market.

In September, Oriental Weavers Group announced it was changing its hospitality division branding strategy and expanding its contract marketing operations in the US, bringing everything under the OW Hospitality umbrella. (To read the full story, click here).

In a few short months, OW Hospitality has developed new logotype, new brochures, new pom boxes and a new corporate face to the market.

Until now, the Oriental Weavers contract division in the US has operated under the name of Cambridge Weavers.

"We've had a nice business in the US, and the new policy will bring a much larger corporate presence to this market," said Jonathon Witt, vice president of Oriental Weavers USA.

OW Hospitality products are largely Axminster-woven broadloom carpeting.

"The contract market is certainly a business of its own and it has been a very interesting learning experience. We feel this will be an important new direction for the company," said Witt.

After adding Axminster carpet looms to its manufacturing facilities in China a few years ago, Nourison has been "operating under the radar" as it explores the contract market.

 "We are very interested in the upscale boutique niche within the HD category and have introduced ourselves to this market by showing at several Boutique HD shows in the past year," said Gerard O'Keefe, Nourison's vice president of sale.

Smaller, elegant public space installations have become the company's specialty. "When designers and specifiers are looking for something special, we can provide it because we specialize in high quality, New Zealand wool in three-ply constructions," he added.

While Nourison Axminster products are tailored to the needs of public spaces, the company also makes machine tufted wool broadloom in China, which is suitable for use in hotel rooms.

Innovative Carpets, headed by Bob Couri, specializes in custom-designed Axminster carpets and hand-tufted rugs. After spending 15 years with Couristan, the family business, Couri founded Innovative in 1990. The company's products are found in such installations as casinos, condominiums, corporate offices, restaurants, hotels and luxury retail stores.

"We are glad we came to this show and we look forward to coming back next year," said Couri. "Business is not spectacular at the present time, but we are excited about future prospects."

Couri said that the entry of such competition as Nourison and Oriental Weavers brings a new dimension to the HD carpet business. "The more people who get involved in the hospitality business, the more it raises the bar for everyone involved," he said.

Malene B is a two year-old custom rug and carpet company that was founded by Malene Barnett and Gary Shafran, two former Nourison associates. The company's products include Axminster, CYP machine-made and hand tufted products that are made in Thailand, Nepal, China and India.

"We specialize in  custom products and we are oriented to the high end residential as well as the boutique commercial markets," said Shafran. "We sell through to-the-trade showrooms and independent sales agents."

 
At Nourison: Gerard O'Keefe, vice president of sales for Nourison and Jonathan Peykar, who was recently named vice president of Nourison's Hospitality Division.

Bob Couri, center, president of Innovative Carpets, with Stephanie Ciongoli, executive vp of design and Julie Ahn of the Innovative staff.

Gary Shafran, left, executive vice president of Malene B and sales agent Bob Cohen, president of Silk Road Agency.

11.16.10