ATLANTA WINTER MARKET
PEOPLE PIX
Page 1

Scott Hayim, left, president of the Rug Decor stores, Earth City, MO., and Jeff Brown, vice president of the Shaw Living division. Scott and his colleagues were ALL over the market, and we kept bumping into them for three days.

Josh Roberts, left, Jaipur vice president of sales and marketing, greets the beautious Carla and Gerald Gerami of Rug Gallery, Lafayette, LA.

The Rugs Direct guys swoop down on 828, from left: Randy Kremer, president of Rugs Direct; John Shepherd, president of 828 International Trading; Bill Martin, national sales director of Rugs Direct, and David Craig, chief executive officer of the Rugs Direct, the Winchester, VA-based Internet specialist. Randy told us he is taking off on a fishing trip up the Amazon on Jan. 26. He and a group of fellow nut cases are in search of a world-record Peacock Bass. It's a catch-and-release program, of course. "We only eat the piranha fish," he said. "They're delicious." The entire adventure will be televised on the Sportsman's Channel and Randy said he'd supply us with some videos of the trip.

At Kas: Steve Fruchter, left, of Montauk Rug, Farmingdale, NY, and Hari Tummala, executive vice president of Kas.

Escalator Howdy to Michael Joseph, left, president of the Oriental Rug Retailers of America and also of Joseph's Oriental Rug Imports, Indianapolis, and Elizabeth Arnold, executive director of ORRA.

Rob Leahy, owner of Fine Rugs of Charleston, Charleston, SC, shares a hug with Safavieh's Angie Hebert.
 

Steve Finkelstein, center, of Couristan, welcomes Penney's buyer Charlene Robnett, left, and Kay Ruffin, Penney's senior assistant buyer.
 

1.2.11
 

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coming soon!

ATLANTA WINTER MARKET
PEOPLE PIX
Page 2

Mike Massmann, vice president of national sales for Due Process Stable Trading Co., with Dee Chiavetta, a principal of McDhurrie's in Rocky River, OH.

The Agarwal-Gupta clan from Rug & Home, from left: newly-weds Nitin and Aanchal Gupta and Dolly and Rakesh Agarwal. Rug & Home is headquartered in Gaffney, SC, with stores in Gaffney, Asheville, NC, and Kannapolis, NC. This was Nitin's first trip to Atlanta Market and he was a super-good sport about it.

Jeff Gonzalez, center, director of furniture store sales for Nourison, with Shanna Sexton and Wanda Morton of Paint & Tile, Inc., Waycross, GA.

At Amer: Monika Chaudhry Gupta, Chief Operating Officer, left and Bob Fritz, Robert Fritz Oriental Rugs, Inc., Raleigh, NC.

Dynamic Rug's Tim Schantz, right, welcomes Igor Ryzhkov and Mila Ryzhkov of Designer's Touc, Alpharetta, GA.

At Jaipur: Anthony Hammontree, center, of Expressway Carpet in Mobile, AL, with Jaipur's Barbara Lankford, left, and Archana Chaudhary, Jaipur's chief operating officer.

Chandra Tiwari, founder and owner of Chandra rugs, welcome Colleen O'Brien, The Rug Place, Jackson, MS.

Nourison principal Alex Peykar, left, and Nourison salesman William Barlage, right, welcome Kyle Johansen and Janet Throne of Hom Furniture in Minneapolis.
 

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1.19.11

ATLANTA WINTER MARKET
PEOPLE PIX
Page 3

At Couristan: Jim Hall, left, of Abingdon Rug Outlet,
Abingdon, VA, with Steven Bentley of Couristan.

At Orian: Robert Mazzatosta of Carpet Clearance Outlet, Wilkes-Barre, PA, with Orian's Kathy Cox, vp of sales, and southeast specialist Jim Howell.

John and Lucy Murse of Rugs as Art in Sarasota, FL with Garland Darnell, newly named sales representative for Due Process Stable Trading.

 
Rafi Amirian, center, marketing director for Shalom Bros., welcomes David Chase Scully , left, of David Chase Rugs & Furniture, Steamboat Springs, CO, and Cyrus Bonakchi of Cyrus Persian Rugs, Seattle.

Kaleen's Grey Christie, right, shows the Kaleen line to Rachel and Chad Tussey, manager of Lexington Furniture & Oriental Rugs, Lexington, KY.

At Shaw: fom left Herb Upton of Shaw; Terry Lewis and Lynne Lewis of The Rug Merchants, Evansville, IN, and Jim Curtin, vice president of sales for Shaw Living.

Hari Tummala, executive vice president of Kas Oriental Rugs, left, with Umesh Shukla of Shukla Bros., Mirzapur, India.
 

1.20.11
 

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ATLANTA WINTER MARKET
PEOPLE PIX
Page 4

The winner of Amer's I-Pad Give-Away was still in AmericasMart to collect her prize in person. No wonder everyone is smiling. Pictured from left are: Galen Levesque, vice president of sales for Amer; I-Pad winner Leslie Pennington of Grigsby Rug Gallery in Tulsa, OK; Monika Gupta, coo of Amer; Penny Carnion of Grigsby's, and JC Lehnan, creative director of Amer.

At 828: Victor Moldovan, left,  and Shannon Fox of Moldovan Interior Design, Atlanta, join John Shepherd, president of 828 International Trading. We remember way back when 828 first started, they introduced a line called "Moldovan Masters" which was made in Moldova. These people assured us they had nothing to do with that.

 Rafi Amirian, marketing manager of Shalom Bros, center, with Steve Issis, left, and Moeen Chaudhry of Issis & Sons, Pelham, AL.

At Karastan: Ed Lansaw, left, welcomes Mahmood Ghanbarinia and Afshin Ghanbarinia of Heritage Carpet in Dubai, UAE.

At Chandra: Susan G. Ball, left, of Casa Bella Interiors & Designs& Accessories, Spotsylvania, VA, and Michael Heath, Chandra sales Manager.

A jolly group at Kaleen, from left: Allen Anderson of Anderson Rug Market, Hattiesburg, MS; Kirti Rathi and Raddhe Rathi of Kaleen; Eddy Wilberding of Anderson, and Monty Rathi of Kaleen.

Bob Ball and Deodat Jugmohan of Harounian Rugs International

Jay Dogan, a principal of Tayse Rugs. This was the first time the Turkish rug specialist showed in Atlanta.

Sunday was still an active day at the Atlanta Winter Market. The folks from Rug Decor come to see the beautiful rugs at Paramount. From left: Ashli Bugby of Rug Decor, Destin, FL; Melanie Hayim, of Rug Decor Corporate in Earth City, MO; Roshan Bhattarai, principal of Paramount Rugs; Sue Ann Burke of Rug Decor Corporate, and Ami Dustan of Rug Decor, Coconut Point, FL.

Most Happy Fella: Roshan Bhattarai, principal of Paramount Rugs with America's Magnificent Carpet Award. Paramount won the top "Buyer's Choice" award.

Ta-Ta from Atlanta: Lissa Wyman, center, joins Chuck Cashin, left, and Jeff de Santis of Amici to say So Long to Atlanta market. Next time we get together in Atlanta, we will have forgotten about the blizzard. We'll be complaining about the heat.

BUT the People Pix Fun Ain't Over Yet!
Party Pix and Magnificent Carpet Pix

Coming Soooooon!
 

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1.20.11

ATLANTA WINTER MARKET
PARTY PEOPLE  PIX
Page 5

Safavieh  Introduces
Ralph Lauren Collection
With new 3,000 sq. ft. Boutique Showroom


Ribbon cutting honors Safavieh's new 3,000 sq. ft. Ralph Lauren showroom. From left: Chas Sydney, vice president of AmericasMart Rug Center; Stephen Earle, senior vice president of Ralph Lauren Home;  Safavieh principal Cyrus Yaraghi; Jeff Portman, president of AmericasMart, and Arash Yaraghi, Safavieh principal.

From left: Safavieh's Yervant Varjabedian welcomes this group from the Mink Companies, which operate the Macy's rug departments coast to coast; JJ Mink (aka Dave's sis-in-law; Caroline Mink Richardson (aka JJ's daughter), and Dorothy Mink, (aka Dave's better half).

Sam Presnell, center, of The Rug Gallery in Cincinnati, with Mike Gay, left,  recently named senior vice president of marketing for AmericasMart Atlanta, and Mike Wolfe of Safavieh.

Safavieh's Jody Shapiro, center, with Sally Wise, left, and Pam Pearce of The Carpet Shoppe, Springfield, MO.

Happy Honchos, from left: Stephen Earle, senior vp of Ralph Lauren Home; Jeff  Portman, president of AmericasMart; and Safavieh principals Arash Yaraghi and Cyrus Yaraghi.

Vignettes in Safavieh's Ralph Lauren boutique features
products from Ralph Lauren Home licensing partners.

1.2.11
 

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ATLANTA WINTER MARKET
PARTY PEOPLE PIX
Page 6

LOLOI and
MOMENI

Know How to Party!

At Loloi: Mahmud Jafri of Dover Rug Co., Natick, MA.,
wth Roz Rustigian of Rustigian's, Providence, RI.


Bijan Delaram, left, and Far Navab of Navab Bros., Minneapolis.


Loloi's Ray Ehsani, center, with Marc Maghsoudi, left, of Gallerie One, Chicago and Mahmud Jafri of Dover Rug Co., Natick, MA.

Lady in Red Lissa Wyman, editor and publisher of Rugnews.com, with Amir Loloi, left, president of Loloi Rugs; David Mink, president of The Mink Companies - Macy's Rugs, and Keith Arlinghaus, newly named northeast sales manager for Loloi.

At Momeni Bash: Momeni principal Ali Momeni, left, with John Murse, Rugs as Art, Sarasota, FL. and Momeni salesman Jeff Koehler.

Momeni's Marlys Giordano with Mike Rollando, buyer for Tuesday Morning, Dallas.

Abe Jahromi, carpet and broadloom buyer for Elte in Toronto joins Reza Momeni, president of Momeni and Stephanie and Pat Shaw who recently joined Momeni to head the new broadloom division.

Joe Mascari, left, of Carpets & Rugs International,
Allentown, PA, with Austin Craley of Momeni.

Momeni president of Momeni, left, welcomes Zubair Mohamed of Senneh Knot, Timomium, MD.

1.23.11
 

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ATLANTA WINTER MARKET
PEOPLE PIX
Page 7
SURYA KICKS OFF YEAR-LONG
35th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION WITH ELEGANT RITZ CARLTON PARTY

Machiko Penny of Walter E. Smithe Furniture, Chicago, congratulates Satya Tiwari, president of Surya, on the company's 35th Anniversary.

Seth King, Surya's vice president of marketing, center, with Sharon Leonard, Bassett Furniture, Bassett, VA, left, and Kathy Cooper, photo stylist for Bassett.

From left: Karl Osman, Surya sales rep with Jennifer
Dodge, Joyce Winter and Bob Winter of Discovery
 Furniture, Topeka, KS

From left: Carla and Gerald Gerami of The Rug Gallery, Lafayette, LA with Jeff Hagedorn of Surya.

Joan Catello, center, Surya's national accounts manager, with Surya's Erika Kugelberg and Emily Robinson.

Surya president Satya Tiwari, left, with Jim Wilson and
Linda Wilson of Jim Wilson Interiors, Springfield, IL.

Eddie Goldberger, left, Surya mid-Atlantic sales, with Steven McLendon and Shaffney Beaver of MicroD, Charlotte, NC.

Brenda Jones, left, and Debra Burton, center, of Design Expressions, St. Louis, with Lex Berger of Area Rug Gallery, Melbourne, FL.

Surya's Alan Bryan, left, and Jeff Hagedorn, right, 
with Charles and Marilyn Tinnin, Tinnin Oriental Rugs, Jackson, MS.

Tom Baker, left, and Martha Baker of The Furniture Doctor, Bloomfield, NY, with Rick Austin, Surya sales rep.

Surya's national accounts manager Joan Catello with
Surya's Rohit Singh.

1.23.11
 

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