2014 Atlanta International Rug Market Review - Feb 2014

By Jessica Chevalier

Color was surging from every showroom at the Atlanta’s 2014 winter rug market: bright washes of Radiant Orchid; over-dyed patterns in deep ocean blues; large-scale, modern florals in rich lipstick tones. Even in subdued fields, pops of color were frequently used to modernize a rug. Kaleen’s Nomad wool flatweave collection, for instance, features 32 fairly traditional patterns and palettes with appealing flairs of unexpected color at the ends. And Oriental Weaver’s Matrix is a collection of simple geometrics, many of which include brilliant, on-trend Pantone hues.

Even traditionals were washed in color at Nourison, which rented a second gallery-style showroom for its Timeless collection of over-dyed pieces inspired by 15 famous rugs. Each design contains 45 to 100 shades of color. The company’s Camelot Tribute was inspired by Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ favorite piece from the White House, a 19th century Victorian needlepoint that decorated a room adjacent to the Oval Office. The re-creation is a loom woven, hand washed and hand finished design that has been modernized with deep, rich red. Nourison purchased the original piece at Sotheby’s auction of the Jackie O estate and has it hanging in its corporate offices. Another of the Timeless collection, inspired by a 17th century Agra rug, updates the original color palette of crimson, ebony, jade and gold to sunrise shades of orange against a striated background of blues.

Reinvented traditionals were found across the market: pieces with cleaner fields, narrower borders and contemporary palettes. Loloi’s Pearl collection is a hand knotted wool-viscose blend in six styles with shimmery interpretations of traditional designs: some subtle tone-on-tone, some with pops of color against the pearlescent field.

In a similar vein, many manufacturers were offering pieces with an aged patina already in place. Nourison uses proprietary washing techniques to achieve different aesthetic outcomes related to adding “age” to its new pieces. Its Luminance viscose/wool collection, with a mix of traditional, transitional and contemporary looks for a total of 12 designs, utilizes this washing technique. And Kaleen offered Restoration, a collection of 13 hand knotted styles with zero pile, for an antiquated affect.

With its silk-like look, viscose had a significant presence at the show, often paired with wool. Sometimes the fiber is used as an accent, often enhanced by carving; other times it is a part of the field to achieve an overall rich appearance.

On the opposite end of the aesthetic spectrum, thick, knobby jute was a popular fiber choice. Under its Tommy Bahama license, Oriental Weavers introduced Valencia, a handmade collection with a sumac construction of large-scale designs and bright colors against natural-toned fields.

And indoor-outdoor introductions continue to be popular. The most interesting, perhaps, was found at Loloi, which rolled out what it claims is the first indoor-outdoor shag, called Garden Shag. The handmade polyester collection comes in eight styles, including stripes and chevron patterns, and is available in a round as well.

MANUFACTURERS
Nourison picked up the Kathy Ireland license in April 2013 and, as of the winter market, has 70 SKUs under the brand. The line is comprised of a mix of power loomed and handmade products as well as a mix of styles. Grio, an African word for storyteller, is a handmade, flatweave collection of stripes in wool. A 5’x8’ Grio rug retails for $299. Lumiere, which retails for $699 in a 5’x8’, is a power loom woven collection made of New Zealand wool with a hard twist. It is available in multiple colorways.

Under the Nourison name, the company rolled out Impressionist, a striking, nubby collection of flower designs made of felted yarn, 80% of which is New Zealand wool, and cut in a directional angle. The collection has three different flower patterns in total and comes in three sizes. Like Impressionist art, the forms take shape when the viewer steps back from the pattern. Impressionist is hand woven and retails for $1,299 in a 5’x8’.

Each item in the Rhapsody collection—an 80% wool, 20% nylon blend—contains almost 70 colors. The SKUs have a watery look overlaid with an understated floral pattern. The collection comes in three sizes and retails for $1,799 in a 7’x9’.

Under its Calvin Klein license, Nourison unveiled Maya, a New Zealand wool and Luxelle blend with an understated, shimmery look. Maya comes in five sizes and retails for $899 in a 5’x8’.

Oriental Weavers was highlighting its partnership with Pantone; the license was announced in July 2013 and began with six collections. At the winter market, Oriental Weavers added an additional three collections to the Pantone line. All of the new collections contain the 2014 color of the year, Radiant Orchid, the most intense version of which is a new SKU in the Focus Shag collection, comprised of a pure, unadulterated rendering of the hue in polypropylene. A 5’x8’ retails for $199.

More often, the manufacture uses Radiant Orchid as an accent. In its new Color Influence collection of wool-viscose rugs, the field is comprised of three shades of grey with a floral pattern in an accent color, such as Radiant Orchid. The designs include uneven edging in a dark grey tone to create an aged patina. There are five colorations in Color Influence. Besides the color of the year, accents are available in Milky Green, Corydalis Blue, Viridian Green and Blueprint, all Pantone hues. MSRP on the line is $599 for a 5’x8’.

Color Scape, a tonal wool line with a subtle diamond pattern, and Optic, a collection of simple geometrics, are new lines also in collaboration with Pantone.

Oriental Weavers was also introducing seven new collections under its Tommy Bahama line, which it signed a license with in November. The Tommy Bahama brand has evolved from one of palm trees and tropical themes to a brand of relaxed style and quality constructions. Lexington Home Brands offers a furniture collection that coordinates with the rug line.

In addition to Valencia, Oriental Weavers introduced another jute collection called Ansley, which is a hand knotted collection with a high pile, triple washed for a soft hand. Ansley comes in eight styles and retails for $799 in a 5’x8’. The line, produced in India, includes several ikat inspired designs.

Under Tommy Bahama, there are three new wool lines: Jamison, Maddox and Vintage. Jamison, available in eight styles, is a dense, tip sheared collection of global designs, and a 5’x8’ has an MSRP of $499. Maddox is a geometric line made with semi-worsted wool for a soft hand. The collection of six SKUs retails for $899 in a 5’x8’. Vintage, a 5’x8’ machine made rug that retails for $699, features space dyed wool and a low pile hand, creating an antiqued look; there are 14 SKUs in total.

Lastly, the company rolled out two indoor-outdoor collections under Tommy Bahama: Cabana and Voyage. Cabana, which retails for only $249 in a 5’x8’, is a machine made polypropylene collection of space dyed loop pile. It comes in 12 transitional and traditional patterns and seven sizes. Voyage, which is slightly more expensive at $399 for a 5’x8’, is a machine made frieze pile in space dyed polypropylene. The casual line is available in 12 different styles, including tropical and global looks.

Stanton was at the rug market introducing its Rug Revolution system with the first Rug Revolution product, Shaggy Lavish Squares. Rug Revolution is a system of 16”x16” rug squares that can be attached to one another using a Velcro system to create customized area rugs, including square, rectangular and octagonal forms. Shaggy Lavish Squares comes in 12 colors, which include neutrals and bright, trendy tones.

Karastan presented its new Euphoria line made of Smartstrand Silk, a fiber that offers stain resistance and a soft hand, under the Karastan Studio brand. The large collection has traditional, transitional and contemporary looks, many of which feature watery blues, greys and shades of brown. Euphoria is available in five sizes and a 5’x8’ retails for between $299 and $349. Many of the styles are borderless.

As a part of Mohawk, Karastan has the company’s line of innovative fibers at its disposal. Currently, the company produces rugs of Permastrand, Smartstrand, Everstrand, Wear-Dated and Silk. A display in the company’s showroom offered insight into the advantages of each of these fibers.

As a brand, Kaleen is embracing color. Previously, the line was more subdued, but its new offerings include vibrant tones. Evolution and Revolution are two transitional lines of geometric looks. Each of the hand tufted patterns includes four colors. Evolution is uncarved, and Revolution includes carved detailing. A 5’x8’ retails for $299.

Posh is Kaleen’s new polyester shag line that includes both fine denier and fat fibers for a bulkier hand. The line comes in 21 colors, including kid-friendly brights, and retails for $279 in a 5’x8’.

Imprints, which comes in both Modern and Classic styles, is a hand sheared loop product that retails for $299 in a 5’x8’. The line is available with a blanket display system that allows retailers to display 30 SKUs on only five arms.

Lastly, the company introduced two new colorful lines. Matira, named for a beach in Bora Bora, is an indoor-outdoor line of hand tufted loop products that come with a no-skid back. The MSRP on the line is $299. Matira includes several fun patterns suitable for costal living, including a vivid red and orange lobster pattern against a brilliant blue field. Lastly, Bikini is a collection of five new braids in colorful shades that retails for $219 for a 5’x8’.

Loloi was at the Atlanta Rug Market celebrating ten years in business and had an impressive number of new introductions to offer. One of its new collections was the first of its collaboration with Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, an author and interior designer from England. The line, called Kensington, was a hand knotted collection from India made of viscose from bamboo. The line includes six styles and retails for $3,800 in a 5’x8’. The collection is inspired by Persian designs and offers a modern color palette.

In addition, Loloi rolled out a stunning collection of hand knotted, recycled sari silk called Giselle. The India-made line, characterized by intense, colorful hues, has unique variations due to the nature of the fiber. Giselle is available in six sizes and six colors. A 6’x9’ retails for $1,700.

Also notable among Loloi’s many introductions was Ashton, a reinterpretation of traditional patterns in current and unexpected colors, which retails for $4,489 in a 6’x9’. The wool and viscose blend line comes in five patterns.

Retailing for only $179 in a 5’x8’ is Felix, a traditional flatweave look printed on a cotton canvas that eliminates shedding. Felix comes in four sizes.

Palm Springs is a bold new indoor-outdoor line designed by Dann Foley. The hand hooked polypropylene collection comes in seven styles, including a chevron inspired pattern in bright primary colors. The line, which retails for $419 in a 5’x8’, is available in five rectangular shapes, plus a round.

Gabriella is a space dyed polyester collection of bright, bold, colorful florals, a total of ten designs, that retails for $509 in a 5’x8’.

Additional introductions included Empress, a jute collection of large scale traditional patterns; Callie Shag, with fine and chubby denier yarns for texture; Barkley, a hand loomed, wool and viscose line in natural shades with an airbrushed or speckled look; Terra, an indoor-outdoor flatweave with a sweater knit texture; Journey, a power loomed product with serged ends for a handmade look; Discover, an abstract wool with a ribbed texture.

Kas was celebrating its forthcoming Donny and Debbie Osmond licensing partnership with a ribbon cutting at the winter market. The line will launch in July. In addition, the company has secured a partnership with Bob Mackie, which will be introduced in April.

Kas added new designs to its Anise collection of bold transitional rugs. The colorful spaced dyed polyester of hooked designs retails for $399 in a 5’x8’. The collection comes in four rectangular sizes and a round.

Coral is a line of tropical looks that is hand tufted in China. The space dyed polyester collection is carved and retails for $499 in a 5’x8’.

Shaw Living announced its exit from the rug business just days before the market started. Though, in retrospect, Shaw’s decision may not have been wholly unforeseeable—two of its long-term licensees, Kathy Ireland and Tommy Bahama, established relationships with other firms in the last year—the Shaw Living team seemed both stunned and saddened at the show. Indeed, they had created several large new collections for the market, but these new products are clearly inconsequential now. Of the transition, Susan Rich, director of corporate communications for Shaw, says, “Supporting our customers through this transition is extremely important. We have available inventory to service our customers through a transition period, which may vary by customer. All styles will be available until the inventory is depleted of a specific product.”

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