While abstract designs and gray and blue palettes remain popular with rug buyers, updated traditional styles and warmer hues gain ground.
SPECIAL REPORT — Though 2021 was a year plagued with supply chain and labor challenges, it proved a bright time for area rug sales as consumers continued to spend the year redecorating and upgrading their homes. RugNews.com surveys a cross-section of area rug retailers and vendors to showcase the rug design stars of the year.
AMER RUGS
Amer Rugs, which continues to grow its high-quality power-loomed assortment and also entered the hand-hooked category in 2021, saw product sales increase in late 2020 and 2021. Among its best sellers were designs in both the machine-made and hand-knotted rug categories, with standouts including the hand-knotted Bristol and power-loomed Alexandria among 2021’s favorites. Bristol’s updated traditional patterns are crafted of raw hand-spun wool and feature palettes grounded in gray, blue and gold. Design BRS-05, a subtle floral and vine in gray, was the top choice. And on the machine-made side, Amer’s expanded assortment gained ground last year, with its Alexandria collection of updated traditional designs made of polypropylene, the best seller, and design ALX-83 the favorite.
Amer Rugs’ Bristol collection of hand-knotted designs, specifically BRS-05, was the category leader for its soft colorations and
scrolling floral and vine design.
BAKER BROTHERS
Baker Bros., among the flooring retailers to see strong sales in 2021, remained committed to area rugs when many flooring retailers began exiting the category. In 2021, the result of that decision was that soft surface sales at its eight Phoenix-area locations posted quarter-after-quarter growth, including a “very big” increase in 2021, Phil Koufidakis, president, said. “There are two issues driving sales: One, the continued increase in consumers updating their homes with rugs a finishing touch. And two, the trend over the last several years of an increase in hard surface sales. Customers are adding to their décor and introducing softness by adding or replacing existing rugs.” Koufidakis noted that 8x10 and larger rugs continue to flourish.
Koufidakis said that Baker Bros. has found success with Dalyn’s hand-tufted Calisa collection, notably the active solid CS5 in kaleidoscope colorway, which features a variety of warm color combinations to create visual depth and dimension. This assortment is made of durable cut and loop space-dyed wool.
The 2021 favorite with Baker Bros. customers was Dalyn’s hand-tufted Calisa collection design CS5 in kaleidescope.
COURISTAN
At Couristan top sellers in 2021 included its new 500,000 point, machine-made Halli, offering rich colors and erased classic motifs, and the 1-million point Luxor collections, designed to emulate hand-knotted rugs, both of which are woven on Wilton looms. In addition, buyers snapped up the company’s latest indoor-outdoor styles from its Monte Carlo collection, with a contemporary striped design in gray and champagne, and Dolce, which added a playful tropical floral/toucan design.
The million-point Wilton-woven Luxor collection by Couristan attracted buyers. Shown, top-seller Luxor 8268
CARPET & TILE MART
Mid-Atlantic flooring superstore Carpet & Tile Mart, based in Delaware, has 13 flooring superstores across Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and South Carolina, and opened its most recent location in Mays Landing, New Jersey last year. In addition, Carpet & Tile Mart, which includes the Airbase and Lomax brands, operates a fast-growing e-commerce division as well.
While wall-to-wall carpet has always been a critical soft flooring sales driver for the retailer, its cut-and-sew business, done at each of its stores, has become an important component of the category, said Igor Yakovenko, rug buyer. Furthermore, its area rug business, which targets the middle of the market, experienced a boost as many high-end hand-knotted rug dealers in Carpet & Tile’s trading area have closed their doors for good, he noted.
“Consumers when they come in are looking for selection and a good price -- they are simply not finding too many places to shop for high-end rugs. But with machine-made rugs becoming so gorgeous now, even if you are a rug expert, from 10 feet away you can’t tell the difference between a two-million point polyester rug and hand-knotted wool and silk piece.”
Carpet & Tile Mart’s best seller for 2021 was a contemporary design by Kas Rugs, Illusions 6202 in gray watercolors. The rug is machine-made of 100 percent polypropylene with no backing in Turkey. “It’s well priced and very well balanced with a good color bank and great design flow — it’s just a very nice modern rug,” he explained.
A best-selling rug at mid-Atlantic flooring retailer Carpet & Tile Mart was a Kas Illusions design.
CREATIVE TOUCH
The New Jersey handmade area rug manufacturer Creative Touch shares its top three sellers during 2021. Those include its ever popular Bosphorus collection, which continues adding new styles and colors to its assortment. That range’s transitional design HW-16/16, hand-knotted of wool and bamboo silk, tops the charts, as does the abstract Coastal’s End design from Creative Touch’s Benson-Cobb artist series. Finally, its Heritage Reform, a collection of updated traditional designs, also earned top billing with design AJ-189.
Creative Touch’s successful Bosphorus collection continues to be among its most popular rugs with design HW-16-16 the No. 1 pick.
D’AMORE INTERIORS
The Denver home furnishings showroom, helmed by young designer Gina D’Amore Bauerle, remains committed to the area rug category and relies on rugs to pull designs together and often make a bold statement. In fact, Bauerle begins every interior design project with an area rug and describes herself as "rug snob," explaining: "my entire design philosophy revolves around area rugs."
“Nourison’s Divine 05 in ash is one of my favorite rugs and best sellers!,” the designer told RugNews.com. “I particularly love the high-low pile of this design. I also like how the cool and warm toned neutrals play off of each other. I’m a huge fan of color, but when I do need a neutral rug I love how this one still has so much personality and interest. It also allows me to incorporate more intense color in furnishings and finishes without the end result becoming too loud.”
Nourison’s textural, tonal abstract Divine 05 was the 2021 top hit at D’Amore Interiors.
DYNAMIC RUGS
Two of Dynamic Rugs’ 2021 most popular area rugs hail from long-running collections. The company’s flagship Ancient Garden collection, introduced more than two decades ago and constantly updated for contemporary tastes, again tops the charts with design 57008-3233. The assortment features traditional Persian patterns, woven with Decolan, a wool-like fine heat-set polypropylene. And the Quartz collection, introduced in 2017, remains a top choice of buyers for its updated classic motifs reworked in high-low, distressed style with trending color palettes. Design 26190-100, a tonal cream design plays with a traditional floral motif, overscaled and repeated in contemporary “carved” style. Finally, the company’s new Sirus collection crafted of space-dyed polyester, which updates classic Persian styles, gained traction. The line’s triple medallion design 4906-999, in a palette of soft blues, grays and ivory was a standout.
Among Dynamic Rugs’ top-selling area rugs is design 57008-3233 from the Ancient Garden collection — a perennial
favorite.
FEIZY
Feizy reported strong growth across all its rug categories, investing in product development and growing its presence at High Point Market with a second showroom last year. The company’s ultra-dense machine-woven Cadiz collection was an instant hit when it was introduced in late 2018 and by 2021 a mosaic-inspired design (3887f) became the Dallas-based rug maker’s best seller. The assortment, inspired by the elegant architecture and colors of Cadiz, Spain, offers approachable designs with intricately detailed patterns, colors and textures mimicking the look of hand-knotted area rugs.
The thick and plush Cadiz collection from Feizy remained a popular choice with buyers, and design 3887f in ivory
and gray was the company’s best-selling area rug.
HAROUNIAN RUGS INTERNATIONAL (HRI)
New York’s Harounian Rugs International (HRI) reports that top sellers remain abstract designs. A 2021 best seller — RO-21407 in gray and rust, introduced in early 2021 — hails from its successful Rosewood collection, a line hand-knotted rugs crafted of finely spun New Zealand wool and viscose. Up next was design FA-630 in white from the Fantasy collection of hand-knotted designs also made of finely spun New Zealand wool with viscose accents. Fantasy collection was introduced in 2019.
HRI’s top-selling hand-knotted Rosewood collection continues to be a hit and the latest design, RO-21407, in
gray and rust, was 2021’s best seller.
HOM FURNITURE
Upper Midwest home furnishings retailer HOM Furniture, headquartered in Minneapolis and which operates 17 stores with one currently in the works, reveals that its top-selling area rug was an abstract gray design by Loloi Rugs. “Our No. 1 rug for 2021 is the Viera rug by Loloi,” Kyle Johansen, HOM Furniture/Gabberts/DOCK86, executive director of merchandising, told RugNews.com. Viera rugs are power-loomed of polypropylene and polyester with a high-low pile designed to create a worn, vintage look.
At HOM Furniture, 2021’s best-selling area rug was a design from Loloi’s machine-made Viera collection.
JAUNTY
Handmade rug maker Jaunty, which several years ago, doubled down on its focus on brick-and-mortar retailers by not offering its products to online discount e-tailers reports that its best-selling rugs nationwide include the debuting hand-tufted Alexa collection design AX58CM15 and the new hand-woven Fusion assortment’s FU58MS82. AX58CM15, a contemporary trellis design, is crafted of a wool and nylon blended yarn with a soft plush pile. FU58MS82, a softened blue palette abstract design, is woven with yarn made of wool and viscose, and then hand-printed and hand-sculpted.
Among Jaunty’s two top selling area rugs was its hands-tufted Alexa AX58CM15, which features a contemporary
diamond design with a soft plush hand.
KALATY
Kalaty, known for its fashion-forward colorations, reports that its award-winning Juno collection, a range of hand-knotted abstract designs in a Tibetan weave, took home the gold in 2021. In particular, Juno 75, with its pairing of grays warmed up by accents of warm gold, was a success. Juno rugs are crafted of Silkette.
Buyers snapped up Kalaty’s hand-knotted Juno 75 crafted in a Tibetan weave. The design warms up gray tones with
warm, golden complements.
KALEEN
Kaleen Rugs & Broadloom, which celebrated 25 years in business in 2021, invested heavily in its machine-made area rugs, revamping and growing its fashion-forward indoor-outdoor rugs, and investing in the hand-knotted category — and each of those categories made headway in the past year. Still, its tufted assortment, for which Kaleen has long-been a go-to source, remains popular with buyers looking for trendy mid-priced area rugs. In fact, an instant hit since its initial debut, Kaleen’s hand-tufted Marble collection has been a long-running success, and the collection’s blue-toned marble-like MBL03-91 topped the charts.
An instant hit since its initial debut, Kaleen’s hand-tufted Marble collection’s MBL03-91 remains a favorite.
KARASTAN
Karastan, which was busy in 2021 growing its licensing program adding new partnerships with designers Stacy Garcia and Bobby Berk, reports its 2021 top-selling area rug was Torrent in rose gold (91964-97031) from its Soiree collection. Soiree designs are woven of a blend of SmartStrand, EverStrand and viscose with a super soft hand and Karastan’s signature stain and soil resistant fibers.
Karastan’s super soft Soiree collection Torrent in rose gold (91964-97031), with its rich palette and abstract
styling, was 2021’s best-selling design.
LR RESOURCES
Dalton, Georgia’s LR Home, a maker of area rugs and decorative accessories, had several top hits across its major rug categories. The company, the direct sales affiliate of LR Resources, has aggressively expanded its product assortment not only in its rug business, but in home accessories and furniture as well, announcing its first licensed program in home accents with designer Stacy Garcia. A 2021 best seller is a Jacobian-influenced blue design from the Gala collection, among the company’s first Wilton-loomed of polypropylene rugs, that picked up steam in 2018. A top hit in the company’s indoor-outdoor category is a tropical palm design (81016BEL) in beige with brown accents from the company’s Captiva collection of flatweaves. And LR Home’s Naturals collection, a perennial buyer favorite, remained a hit, with several round designs trending with buyers, notably design 50136NAT, a hand-braided natural jute design.
LR Home’s Wilton-loomed Gala collection continues to receive top billing. Shown, 1275INM
NOURISON
At Nourison its Prismatic collection continues to top the charts and the tufted award-winning designs are prized for their vibrant, textural abstract, statement-making compositions. In 2021, PRS16, a watercolor-like design in sea foam colorway, was a best seller. The other top hit: a cheery, contemporary floral design (ALH-05) from its indoor-outdoor Aloha collection geared toward big-box and online retailers.
Nourison’s carved, hand-tufted water-color-inspired Prismatic PRS16 in sea foam was a 2021 best seller.
ORIENTAL WEAVERS
At Oriental Weavers the top-selling indoor area rug in 2021 was Andorra 9818g. Andorra, domestically made of nylon and polypropylene yarns, features an intermixture of lustrous and matte yarns and the collection has been a best seller since its introduction five years ago. In the indoor-outdoor category, the 2021 best seller was a black and white checked design (Marina 1932k), woven of polypropylene in Egypt.
At Oriental Weavers, the best-selling indoor area rug was Andorra 9818g, which blends matte and lustrous yarns.
OVERSTOCK
Home products e-tailer Overstock.com, based in Salt Lake City, reported its Q3 sales were the highest sales growth quarter since 2004, and area rugs feature prominently on the company’s home goods best-sellers list. According to the company, 2021’s most popular area rugs include Artistic Weaver’s Newton Geometric Moroccan Trellis plush shag rug (MSRP: $310 in 5x7), and nuLOOM’s handmade Braided Reversible Jute area rug (MSRP: $262.85 in 5x8).
NuLOOM’s handmade Braided Reversible Jute area rug was a top seller on Overstock.com.
Among Overstock’s two top-selling area rugs in 2021 is Artistic Weaver’s Newton Geometric Moroccan Trellis plush
shag rug.
RUGS DONE RIGHT
Rugs Done Right, a company that has been in the area rug business since 1985 and began selling rugs and home decor accessories online in 1999. Last year, there were several Uber-popular looks. CEO Jamie Carney shares the Massachusetts rug e-tailer’ s top three best sellers: a Loloi tribal-inspired hand-knotted private label Heirloom design in bone palette; Stark Studio’s machine-made animal print Nessa rug in sand; and Tibet Rug Co.’s Suzani 03, crafted of New Zealand wool.
Tibet Rug Company’s Suzani 03 was a 2021 favorite at Rugs Done Right.
A top three seller at Rugs Done Right in 2021 was Loloi’s tribal-inspired hand-knotted private label Heirloom design in bone.
Stark Studio’s machine-made animal print Nessa topped the charts in 2021 at Rugs Done Right.
S&H RUGS
At New Jersey hand-knot purveyor S&H Rugs standouts include its Afghan and Indian hand-knotted artisan area rugs. Moroccan designs continued to be style leaders at the company, with S&H’s Moroccan Berber collection’s SH71223 and SH71342, crafted in Afghanistan of 100 percent wool, topping the charts. In addition, S&H’s updated classic Persian area rugs, including its Afghan Ouhak and Super Kazak collections, gained ground in 2021. And, the Vintage collection, which breathes new life into old Tabriz, Heriz and Kerman carpets, led the way in 2021.
S&H Rugs’ Vintage collection revitalizes old Persian carpets, sometimes by shaving them down, distressing or re-coloring.
SURYA
Surya in the past few years has invested heavily in creating innovative handmade and machine-made area rugs, and rolled out several new constructions in the fall. Among those latest introductions are its best-selling 2021 machine-woven collection Reina (REN-2301), with a high-low shrink poly texture. The recently introduced Reign (REG-2309), which includes traditional designs in contemporary palettes, topped the charts in Surya’s hand-knotted category. In addition, the hand-tufted cut and loop, carved Brooklyn 2304, a mid-century modern geometric design, was the most popular tufted design of the year. The hand-woven Machu Picchu 1005 also earned kudos.
Surya’s better-quality machine-made Reina collection, with high-low yarn treatment, was a 2021 success with design
REN2301-575, a softly colored foral and vine design, the superhit.
TRANS-OCEAN
Trans-Ocean by Liora Manne continues score points for its functional indoor-outdoor performance area rugs, and its popular Wilton-woven Marina collection of performance rugs proves no exception in 2021. Marina design Falling in Love offers a rich and warm tapestry look and was introduced in 2020. It was a best seller last year.
Trans-Ocean’s Wilton-woven indoor-outdoor Falling in Love designed by Liora Manne from the Marina collection stole
hearts in 2021.