Dubai, UAE, February 8--The Carpet Oasis at the Dubai World Trade Center saw a rush of shoppers on its closing day.
Thanks to its excellent location at the Dubai World Trade Centre this year, the 10th edition of this popular DSF event, organised by the Dubai Ports and Customs Authority, attracted a large number of connoisseurs and collectors of beautiful and rare carpets.
The Carpet Oasis has become the leading trade show for the carpet industry in the region and brings together buyers, trade visitors and industry professionals from all over the world showcasing the latest trends in the field.
This year the exhibition was larger than ever before with 50 stalls displaying carpets from every corner of the globe. Most of the carpets exhibited this year were handmade and included some unique designs created especially for the event as well as some rare and exclusive collectors pieces.
Shoppers received raffle tickets for every Dhs 500 spent and prizes worth more than Dhs 50,000 were given away during the 24-day event. While final estimates are not in yet, sales are expected to be a record Dhs 70 million.
As usual, the biggest participation was from Iran, but the variety available included the typical weaves from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Turkey and other countries. Syria participated in the event for the first time displaying a collection of 'Arabian carpets' handwoven from pure wool.
The Syrian pavilion also showcased hand made decorative wall hangings, curtains and traditional Arabian majlis covers. All the products were popular with visitors and the pavilion saw brisk sales throughout the three weeks.
"This is an initiative from the Syrian Government and the products are reasonably priced because they are made at government run cooperatives. We came here not only to sell but also to create awareness of our unique Arabian carpets. However the sales have been excellent and we also have many wholesale enquiries. We are happy to see that our customers included all nationalities. We will definitely be back next year," said Saleh Abu Saleh, managing director of Al Durah Advertising, the organisers of the Syrian pavilion.
The Iranian participants were not so satisfied with the response to the wholesale section this year. Hamid Hosseiny of Armita Oriental Carpet Trading was happy with the venue and praised the security arrangements and other facilities provided at the new location. "We have been participating in this event since its inception 10 years ago and come here mainly to do retail sales and make contacts with more wholesalers. Our wholesale business has been very good," said Hosseiny adding, "We would love to see more retail buyers come and watch our display and develop an interest in carpets," he said.
Majid Heidarian of Spring Carpet Trading also echoed these sentiments. "This year sales were less than expected because visitors preferred to buy carpets in the Dhs 5,000 to 6,000 range rather than the exclusive and more expensive ones," he said.
However, Mubashir from Pride of Kashmir had a different opinion. "Kashmiri carpets get neglected at this event because most customers in this region prefer Iranian carpets. But we are quite happy with our sales. In fact, a majority of those who bought our Kashmiri carpets were Iranians," he said.
Other dealers who had a larger variety registered satisfactory sales. Raheel, sales manager of Mehreen Carpets and Novelties, said that sales of their Afghani and Pakistani carpets were better than those of the expensive Iranian ones. He also felt that the event did not receive enough publicity.
A random survey of visitors indicated that most of them are regular visitors to the annual event.
