Summer 2010 Atlanta International Rug Market

Atlanta’s AmericasMart is a permanent wholesale showroom that is open daily here in Atlanta for the trade only and services the home, rug, gift and apparel markets. The International Gift & Home Furnishings Market and the Atlanta International Rug Market typically run concurrently during the winter and summer markets and most recently July 15 through 18, 2010.

I was fortunate not to have to travel too far to visit the summer International Rug Market last week. Unlike the Merchandise Mart in Chicago [see Elephants, Flooring & Green at NeoCon 2010], AmericasMart is composed of several buildings which are connected by walkways above the street level so on those Hotlanta summer days this is a much appreciated feature.

Four floors in Building 1 are dedicated to the area rug industry.

Even though the floors seemed slow on the second day that I walked the hall, there were a number of rug companies that were moving product as seen by the pallets of rugs ready to be shipped to buyers [see photo below].

Companies such as Karastan expanded their presence at the event with expanded show room space and Concepts International returned to Atlanta.

Among the larger companies such as Couristan, Jaipur, Shaw Industries and Capel, there were smaller family owned companies that are producing beautiful rugs such as Amadi Carpets and Mobayen.

Rugs on display varied from modern and contemporary to antiques and artisanal. Let’s take a company like Renaissance Carpet & Tapestries that produces and designs handmade rugs in all the categories I mentioned above. Their showroom displayed their diversity as well as their newest designs of Tibetan-Nepalese rugs.  Many of these rugs are made in difference parts of the world like Asia, Turkey and Tibet.

[Note: Jaipur and Renaisssance have been long-time exhibitors at DOMOTEX.]

Although I did not encounter a company that solely dealt in Persian rugs, the entire industry will be affected in some way by President Obama’s embargo on all Iranian-made carpets. This Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 will become effective September 29th of this year and will ban all imports of Iranian made rugs.
 

All in all, AmericasMart Atlanta continues to provide a forum for rug producers to display their new collections and meet with prospective buyers in the industry. I will certainly look forward to visiting the Atlanta Rug Market again in January.

Note: You can also check out AmericasMart Blog post titled AmericasMart Recognizes Visual Excellence and Grand Opening, Expansion and Relocation of Showrooms This July with additional perspective on the recent show.

~ Katherine

Katherine León
Director of Sales - DOMOTEX and LIGNA Worldwide Events

Hannover Fairs USA
1170 Howell Mill Road, Suite 300
Atlanta, GA 30318
Phone: 404.214.0432
Email: kleon@hfusa.com