HIGH POINT MARKET
PEOPLE PIX -- 1

The beautious and brilliant B. Smith, left, visits the Surya showroom to consult with Satya Tiwari, right, on upcoming new designs in the works for Atlanta January market.

At Momeni: Reza Momeni, left, president of Momeni, with Steve Arnold, Arnold's Flooring America, Little Rock, and Momeni sales agent Ralph Long.

Harriet Treitz, left, interior designer for the architectual frm of Lee W. Robinson Co., Louisville, KY, with Linda Harlow of Trans-Ocean Imports and Liora Manne. The companies took a satellite showroom next to the Market Square escelators that helped direct traffic to the companies' main showrooms down the hall. (It was the former showroom of Marcella Fine Rugs). Harlow said that the indoor-outdoor Lamontage felted products were real traffic stoppers, especially with designers.

At Safavieh, from left: Andrea Price, the new Garnet Hill rug and furniture buyer; Ellie Bliss, who has now moved to soft goods buying for Garnet Hill;  Safavieh sales specialist Jody Shapiro, and Safavieh principal Cyrus Yaraghi. We will all miss Ellie in the rug buying post, but she'll still be with us in the textiles category. Meanwhile, Andrea is ALSO super-nice!

Ray Ehsani, executive director of sales for Loloi, left, with Keve Butterfield of Butterfield Interirors, Fuquay Vaina, NC; Denise Whitley of Interior Concepts, Raleigh, NC, and Steve Loloi of Loloi Rugs.

Tommy Johnson of Kas, right; welcome Karl Daniels and Nancy Pugh of Daniels' Homeport, Kitty Hawk, NC.  Daniels summarized the current state of the business by saying, "Consumers want to shop, but they're still very cautious about buying. And we've got the same attitude, as well!"

At Jaunty, from left: Genie Matthews of CJ Designs, Fayetville, NC; Mac McCormick, sales and marketing director for Jaunty; Dale Pieper, Jaunty sales agent, and Cindy Baker of CJ Designs.

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HIGH POINT MARKET
PEOPLE PIX -- 2


At Capel: Allen Robertson, Capel vice president of sales, left, with retailer Donald LaFera of Lounge, Hudson, NY and Capel sales rep Rick Austin.


Shauna Snyder, left, creative director for Rizzy Rugs with Amelia Ellenstein, director of visual merchandising for Art Van Furniture, Warren, MI.

At Oriental Weavers: David Moss, southern regional vice president of OW, left, Alicia Lockhart of La-Z-Boy Furniture, Shreveport, LA, and David Henson, OW sales specialist for Louisiana and Mississippi.

Satya Tiwari, left, president of Surya, with Lisa and Kerry Manning Pack of Manning's Design, Easley, SC

 Jaipur sales specialist Vernon Singleton, center, welcomes Karla Figuera, left and Erin Cohen to the Jaipur showroom. Karla and Erin just graduated from the Art Institute of Charlotte and they were in High Point to get a close-up view of the home fashions business.

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HIGH POINT MARKET
PEOPLE PIX -- 3

 Rugs Direct visits OW, from left: Sam Belak, regional sales manager for Oriental Weavers; Randy Kremer, president of Rugs Direct; Bill Martin, national sales manager for Rugs Direct, and Aaron Gray, director of marketing for OW.

Chandra Rugs welcomes itnernational buyers, from left: Guillermo Ibarra and Ana Bravo of Futon Tanashi of Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico; Chandra Tiwari, foudner and president of Chandra Rugs, and Joan Chapell, Chandra sales rep.

Jeri Delaney, left, Jaipur sales representative, with Sheree Heatherly of OP Jenkins Furniture, Knoxville, TN.

Gray Christie, center, of Kaleen, with Kelleigh Powell and Betty Cox of BDC Interiors, Sanford, FL.

Tammy Washburn, left, of Oriental Weavers, with Ellie and Michael Kaplan of La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries, Lafayett, IN.
"Business is picking up," said Mike. "People are feeling a lot more comfortable and there is pent-up demand. And we're still doing LOTS of heavy promotion -- we gotta scream and yell."

Linon/Powell sales representative Chris Pittman, left, with Steve Mazarakis, who heads the Linon rug division. Linon celebrated its 40th Anniversary with a traditional Greek Party -- complete with dancing, uozo and shattered plates.

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HIGH POINT MARKET
PEOPLE PIX -- 4

Cyrus Yaraghi, a Safavieh principal, with Paige Ward, buyer for Rugs Underfoot/Shades of Light, Rich,ond, VA.


Rizwan Ansari, principal of Rizzy Rugs, left, with Mark Ferullo, vice president of Rizzy in the US.

At Surya: Satya Tiwari, president of Surya; Renee Killian, Tracy Matthews and Shari Jennell-Sutherland of Project Decor in Piney Flats, TN, and Al Mortensen, creative director of Surya.

At Linon, from left: Steve Mazarakis, head of the Linon Rug Division, with Mitchell Lieberman, president; Angelo Rodriguez and Naoya Higashi of One Way Furniture, Farmingdale, NY. "Things aren't getting any worse, so we are in a position for growth next year," said Lieberman.

Louis Shanks group visits Feizy, from left: Amor Forwood III; Mike Forwood of Louis Shanks; John Feizy, president and founder of Feizy; Michael Forwood, Chuck Bredthauer
and Marissa Forwood of Louis Shanks, and Cameron
Feizy of Feizy.

Lissa Wyman, editor and publisher of Rugnews.com and
Josh Roberts, vice president of sales and marketing for Jaipur, say adios from High Point. We'll see ya at the
Atlanta International Rug Market, January 7 to 10, 2010.

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