09152008 NY Market Week People Pix

NEW YORK FALL '08
MARKET WEEK

Home Textiles People Pix - Page 1

At Oriental Weavers at 295 Fifth Ave. From left, Mike Riley, president of Oriental Weavers of America; Maria Metropolous-Ward, OW vice preseident of national accounts; OW  sales reps Brett Finkelstein and Steve Finkelstein. Brett, an OW sales vet,  helped dad Steve get the job, by the way.

The temporary suites at 7W attracted several rug vendors,
 and by the looks on their faces, they were pleased with results. Here is the crew from Kane Carpet: Joseph Frank, vice president, left; Stephen Hoberman,  national sales manager for Kane's rug division, and Kevin Blaine, NY-NJ territory mgr. for Kane.

Diane Carleo, left, marketing manager of United Weavers
of America, with Larry Langbaum, sales agent in the
New York area. UW was one of the pioneering vendors at the 7 W temporary suites.
 

New vendor International Rug & Home made its market debut at the temporary suites at 7W. From left: Supplier Naushad Ali of Sumaiya; Cindy Hooker, vice president of operations and CFO of IRH; Dave Penny, president of IRH; and Trisha Braumann and Carroll Romano of CRT catalog merchants, Centerbrook, CT.
 

At Surya in 7 West NY: Jeff Gonzalez, left, vice president
of sales for Surya; Nicole Koenig and Brooke Koenig of Broadway Carpet & Design, New York, and Satya Tiwari, president of Surya. Surya was the first major rug
vendor to open a permanent showroom at the
 7W NY building on 34th St,

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NEW YORK FALL '08
MARKET WEEK

MOMENI GRAND OPENING BASH

Dorothy and David Mink of Kenneth L. Mink & Sons enjoy the wonderful food at the Momeni event. Mink is the lease-operator of the rug departments in Macy's East and Macy's North stores.

Alex Kimia, vice president of ABC Carpet & Home,
New York, with Bita Momeni,  wife of
Momeni prez Reza Momeni.

Bill Martin, national sales director of RugsDirect.com, Winchester, VA, and host Aria Momeni, vice president
 of Momeni.

All in the family: Reza Sattari and Jila Kalantari Sattari of Oriental RugMart in Victor, NY (seated) are joined by Austin Craley and Hadi Sattari of Momeni. Hadi is Austin's right-hand man in the sales department and we LOVE his smiling face and super intelligence. (Hadi's, that is...and Austin ain't bad either)

Reza Momeni, left, president of Momeni, joins family friends Bevinn Romaine, Maureen Smith and Bill Smith.

Bita  (Mrs. Reza) Momeni, left, with Leila Momeni and
hubby Ali Momeni.

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NEW YORK FALL '08
MARKET WEEK

MOMENI GRAND OPENING BASH II

Momeni exec vp Aria Momeni, center, welcomes Sima and Javid Hakakian of J&S Designer Flooring, Morristown, NJ.
 

Steve Boodakian, left, Mera Consulting Group, Merrimack, NH; Mark Bemis, who was Momeni's first sales agent and is now an independent design consultant, and Kipp Livingston, president of Concord Imports, New England sales agency for Momeni.

 
Bahram Namdar of Rugs & Art, Inc., Paramus, NJ, with
Ray Ehsani of Momeni.
 

Sales agent Jacqui Mathers, left, Betty Ann Gildea, sales agent; Amir Jafararia of Aria's Collection in Framingham, MA, and Jeff Koehler, Momeni sales agent.
 

Javid Javid Hakakian, left, of J&S Designer Flooring, Morristown, NJ; Robert Moomjy of Floor Smart, Livingston, NJ, and Howard Gottesman, Momeni sales agent.

Friends from the Orica building came to pay their respects. From left: Farzine Maali, Behshid Zandi and Morad Amirsaleh of Group USA, Reza Bahari of the Bahari Group, and Kevin Afshari, a nice young man who is someone's nephew.  

And a wonderful time was had by all!

Lissa Wyman, editor and publisher of Rugnews.com, right, was honored to appear in this picture with company founder Haji Momeni, seated, and Reza Momeni, president of Momeni.
 

The Momeni family celebrates the Grand Opening of its new warehouse, left to right: Reza Momeni, president; Ali Momeni, vice president; Ali Akbar (Haji) Momeni, founder and chairman; Aria Momeni, executive vice president, Narges Momeni (Mrs Haji),  and Will Roseman, mayor of Carlstadt, NJ.

The Momeni  Grand Opening celebration took place on September 15, the first evening of the 2008 Metro Market, and was marked by a party for customers, family and friends to commemorate both events.

Momeni was established in 1975 by Haji Momeni and was headquartered in New York City prior to its move to Carlstadt in December of 2007. The company also has showrooms in Atlanta, High Point, NC and Las Vegas as well as warehousing facilities in Atlanta.

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NEW YORK FALL '08
HOME TEXTILES
MARKET WEEK HOSTS
GIANTS OF MASS MERCHANDISINGB

People Pix - Home Textiles

 
Jeanne Love, center, of Home Depot's Home Expo stores, Atlanta,  with  Barry Brickman, left, vice president of sales for Natco Home, and Jim Thompson, vice president of sales and marketing for Central Oriental.

At Feizy, from left: Steve Sorrow, Feizy's vp  of design and product development; Stacy Feraco, national accounts, Alex Bracey, buyer for Sears Holdings, Hoffman Estates, IL, and Garrett Swearingen, national accounts manager, Feizy.

Brandon Culpepper, sales manager for Kas, right,
welcomes Ann Heacock, senior buyer/merchandising
of Fingerhut, Eden Prairie, MN

Scott Proffitt, buyer for Garden Ridge, Houston, with Dave Penny, a principal of new vendor International Rug & Home of Dalton, Ga.

At Concord Global, from left: Sales agent Matt Ellman, Ellman Marketing; Brad Goldman, merchandise manager for Ross Stores, New York, NY; Gulben Aksu, a principal of Concord Global, and Tanya Fykes, senior assistant buyer for Ross Stores.

Dimitri Verhoye, vice president of sales and marketing for Balta USA rug division with sales reps Brian Denning, left, regional sales manager and Jeff Patrick, marketing manager.

Vive La France! France Chouinard, buyer of Winner's stores headquartered  in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, pays a visit to Orian showroom. Here she is with Paul Sullivan, Orian's senior vice president of sales and marketing, and Pat O'Farrell, head of Orian's Canadian operations.

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NEW YORK FALL '08
MARKET WEEK

NY International Carpet Show
Hosts 31 High End Exhibitors
At 69th Regiment Armory
 

Show organizer Dennis Dodds, left, was the amiable host of the Fourth Annual NYICS at the Historic Armory on Lexington Ave. He is shown here with George Haroonian,The Rug Warehouse, Los Angeles.

Who says hand-knot people are too serious? This jolly group included, from left, Retailer Richard Habib of Alexander's, San Francisco; Haynes Robinson of Haynes Robinson, Heidi Garay of Tibetano, Shabram Nazar of Tibetana and Behranz Sarlak of Rug Alliance Zurich.

At the Amadi booth, from left: Zubair Ahmadi of Amadi, David Young of Hali Magazine, Zabi Ahmadi of Amadi and Fred Hazen of Pacific Collection.

Our dear friends from AmericasMart are always on hand
at industry events to touch base with Atlanta tenants. Kevin Malkiewicz, left, executive director of leasing for
rugs and Chas Sydney, senior vp of business development
 for AmericasMart stop to chat with West Coast vendors
Rabin Mobayen, center left, of Mobayen and Akbar
Azad of Azad USA.

These folks from the U.S. Department of Commerce are becoming familiar faces at rug events all over the world. Noor Alam, left, is on the Afghanistan reconstruction task force, and Mary Lynn Landgraf is the senior international trade specialist for the market expansion division. Alam and Landgraf were at the Armory to show the beautiful handicrafts of Afghanistan and to invite participation in the coming US Trade Mission to Kabul. (For more info on the Kabul show, click here)

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NEW YORK FALL '08
MARKET WEEK

Orica Throws a Party!


Alex Kimia, center, vice president of ABC Carpet & Home, New York City, enjoys the evening with Sanjay Purohit, left, chief executive officer of Zollanvari, and Manuela Federica Krebser, president of Ishoni Corp., New York City.


Michael Harounian, center, president of the Oriental Rug Importers Association and a principal of Ebisons Harounian, with Alen Kalati which supplies Smart Rug software to the industry, and Lucille Laufer, executive director of ORIA.

Manhattan Participants
in Metro Market Week

Safavieh hosted retailers for both the NY Metro Market and the NY Home Textiles Market. Cyrus Yaraghi, left, a Safavieh principal is joined by sales specialist John Ng.

At Shalom Bros: Manouchehr Shabahang, center,  of Shabahang Royal Carpet, Chicago, Milwaukee and Esfahan joines Rafi Amirian, Shalom's vp of marketing, left, and company principal Nader Shalom.

We caught Shalom at a busy moment. Rafi Amirian, vice president of marketing for Shalom Bros., left, with Mahmoud Houshiarnejad from Houshiarnejad Collections, Haddonfiled and Princeton, NJ

Bruce Saberi of Azia Oriental Rugs, Columbus, OH, center, pays a visit to Ebisons Harounian with brothers Maurice Harounian, left and Michael Harounian.

Sidewalks of New York: Maurice, Ebi and Michael Harounian enjoy the glorious Fall weather under their snappy new flag and awning on  East 32nd Street.

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NEW YORK FALL '08
MARKET WEEK

PREMIERE NIGHT AT SAMAD
TO INTRODUCE
'COLORS OF INDIA' FILM


Samad executives welcomed about 50 guests  from around the country to the lavish dinner and World Premier of the new film, Colors of India: A Rug-Making Journey. From left: Tom Eddy, vice president; Rao Siriki, executive vice president, and company principals David Samad and Malcolm Samad.


The reason these folks look so happy is because they are. Newlyweds Nancy and Doug Wagner of Wagner Carpet Co., Santa Rosa, CA.

Barbara Cresswell and Kim Cresswell of the Drexel Heritage store in Wilmington, DE.

L. Paul Railey, left, president, and Sergio Chavarria, vice president of River Oaks Rugs & Carpet in Houston.
 

Jayne Quig and Gene Engberg of Latitudes Rugs in Seattle. Gene tells us he's often mistaken for Al Bundy, star of Married with Children. Fortunately, no one has ever mistaken him for mass murderer Ted Bundy.

Randall and Beth Mougalian of Mougalian Rugs in Scarborough, ME.

Tom and Cindy Pace of Prolog Office Interiors of Mawah, NJ

Giants of the industry. We asked these guys to stand up for their picture, and they just kept growing. These  tall and handsome hunks are, from left, Rick Suffoletta of Suff's Furniture & Oriental Rugs, Georgetown, KY; Phelps Dillon of Southeastern Galleries, Charleston, SC, and Dick Suffoletta of Suffoletta's.

Filmaker Tracey Dunn introduces Colors of India: A Rug-Making Journey. Over a year in the making, the documentary was filmed in India and was made for the benefit of retailers and consumers, not as a promotional vehicle for Samad.

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