Top sellers from area rug suppliers at fall High Point Market from companies in Part 1 of the Best of Market exclusive
report from RugNews.com.

HIGH POINT, N.C. -- The area rug category topped the shopping lists of retailers and designers looking for fresh fashion at the fall 2021 edition of High Point Market. Rug companies were sure to bring ready-to-ship introductions and one-of-a-kinds (in stock of course) for the big Holiday home entertaining season.

New area rugs were on-point in fashion, color and technology with rug makers ticking off the newest palettes, abstract, transitional and traditional designs and innovative mixes of yarn. Machine-made rugs grabbed attention – whether for mimicking hand-knotteds or taking washable designs to the next level in sizes up to 5x7 or even 8x10 depending on the showroom.

The editors at RugNews.com scoured the showroom buildings in search of the market hits. Read on to see the highlights from the top area rug exhibitors in Part 1 of this two-part exclusive. (Make sure not to miss Part 2, where our coverage continues.)

ART RESOURCES


Among Art Resources' perennial favorites are its Navaho designs from the South West Collection.

The Navajo designs in its South West collection are always one of the top two best sellers at Art Resources High Point Market showroom, so an extra space was added to display the wool flatweave rugs. Also topping the charts was design 4084 from the Millennium collection which is hand-knotted of wool in Pakistan.


Art Resources' design 4084 from its hand-knotted Millennium collection was a market hit.

BALTA RUGS


Balta showcased its best-selling Tibet quality in the new burnt orange colorway, a hit at HPMKT.

In Balta’s High Point Market premiere, the company gave ample floor space to its popular kids’ line. “It’s a big standout, and has been bringing people in,” says Brandon Gavic, senior vice president, e-commerce. Some of the kid-friendly patterns include rainbows in various incarnations and a pattern in the Canyon collection that features planets and moons on a midnight-blue ground. Another market hit was Balta’s best-selling Tibet quality in the new burnt orange colorway.


Balta's children's line, a top seller at the company, were sales standouts. Shown, Canyon design

CAPEL


Capel grows its Cococozy program and its tufted rugs mated of PET were popular with market shoppers.

A stunning display at the entrance to Capel’s showroom greeted customers and showcased new designs from Cococozy, a long-running licensed partnership with design blogger Colette Shelton. The rugs include a hand-tufted rug made of PET recycled from bottles and a hand-tufted wool rug made in India. The rugs feature pared-down palettes and bold but simple patterns, all original designs from Cococozy.

CREATIVE TOUCH


Best of Market at the Creative Touch stand is this nature-inspired design from license partner Artxtiles.

Buyers on the hunt for contemporary rugs were particularly attracted to a new design by Artxtiles for Creative Touch prominently displayed at the rug maker's SAMS stand. Designed by Artxtiles' artist and owner, Sarah Sczepanski, the rug captures her talent for transposing textures from plants and various humanistic elements in hand-knotting in intricate detail and complexity.

DALYN


Dalyn's new washable Brisbane collection features a proprietary color processing technology.

From Dalyn, a market highlight was the Brisbane collection, featuring 37 designs utilizing the company’s proprietary Prismatic Color Processing technology, a digital printing process that allows the designers to work with endless shades of colors. The rugs come in six standard sizes as well as custom sizes, and are washable and UV stabilized. The Marbella collection also uses Prismatic Color Processing, for a collection of 24 designs in polyester chenille with a nonskid back. “They’re like the old Persian patterns, but with updated colors,” describes Brian Vander Werf, regional vice president.


Dalyn's new Marbella collection was a hit for its classic looks reworked in contemporary palettes.

EXQUISITE RUGS


Exquisite Rugs, in a new expansive High Point showroom, reports its Fine Pure Silk collection was among the favorites.

In the company’s new showroom, which quadrupled its space to show off its assortment, Exquisite Rugs was highlighting its Fine Pure Silk collection. The beautiful hand-knotted rugs come in four sizes ranging from 8x10 to 12x15, with custom options also available. The patterns are rendered in monochromatic pale neutrals.

FEIZY


Feizy's expanded Thom Filicia Home collection wowed High Point shoppers with textural earth tones and neutral colors in transitional designs.

Attention continues to build around the Thom Filicia Home collection from Feizy, which was showcased upfront in the company’s new Showplace and flagship Market Square spaces. The rugs on display featured warm earth tones and neutrals, and organic patterns that buyers loved for their easy of integrating into any décor. In the company’s core collection, Laina was a head-turner. Under the Lifestyles umbrella, this machine-made range is crafted of polyester and polypropylene with a touch of Lurex in the base. “There’s a little bit of sparkle but it's not overwhelming,” said Feizy’s Justin Yeck. “Laina’s a showstopper with patterns reminiscent of those found in nature, from snakeskin to marble veining.”


Feizy's machine-made Laina collection stopped buyers in their tracks.

HAROUNIAN RUGS INTERNATIONAL (HRI)


HRI rolls out three Oushak collections in a good-better-best program, above is Majestic in the middle tier.

In its new showroom, HRI showed off its three Oushak collections, organized in good-better-best tiers. The Platinum Oushak was a particularly strong introduction, according to Greg Jordt, executive VP, sales and marketing. Made of hand-knotted wool in a Turkish weave, the rugs are in what Jordt described as “sherbet colors” of faded, warm tones, and range in size from 6x9 to 12x15 sizes. The Oushak assortment was rounded out by Majestic Oushak from India, featuring a slightly less intricate knot construction, and Madison Oushak, in a looser weave that make it the more entry-level option in the collection.


HRI's hand-knotted Platinum Oushak collection was a hit with High Point buyers for its subtle warm colorations.

JAIPUR LIVING


Jaipur Living's new Manchaha, one-of-a-kind rugs crafted of repurposed wool, gave artisan's free rein in the design.

An exciting new addition to Jaipur’s assortment was the Manchaha collection. Translating to “from the heart,” these rugs are made of repurposed wool that have been given to the Jaipur artisans, who were given free rein to weave a one-of-a-kind rug inspired by their imagination or their life story. These unique rugs, truly works of art, take as long as a year to create, and are typically in 5x8, 8x10 or 9x12 sizes. The company brought 10 to the market and sold them all.

JAUNTY


Jaunty's Roxbury, hand-woven of PET and viscose, proved a market favorite.

The Roxbury collection was one of Jaunty’s market hits. This wool, PET and viscose rug is hand woven in India and features a high-low pattern in an abstract, tone-on-tone effect. Camden was another new collection getting attention. It’s made of wool and viscose in an over-tufted construction, and the patterns are organic geometrics. And finally, Webster is a cotton and polyester flatweave with a subtle pattern that also got a stamp of approval from buyers.

KARASTAN


Stacy Garcia by Karastan debuted at High Point, and her new Rendition collection proved a showstopper.

Karastan dedicated a generous amount of space in its new showroom to spotlighting two of its new licensed collections, Stacy Garcia and Bobby Berk. Said Garcia of her new line of area rugs, “It’s about the idea of empowering the consumer in a way that makes them feel their best.” Garcia’s line has an ‘eclectic contemporary’ aesthetic, based on neutral colorways and a modern look that is still very easy to work with in a room setting. One showstopper in the line is Rendition, a gray-based area rug with an organically shaped pattern reminiscent of stones. Meanwhile, Brian Hall of Karastan said the Bobby Berk collection is designed to appeal to the TV celebrity and designer's diverse audience, which truly spans ages, demographics and lifestyles. Among the hit patterns is Almada, a rug that’s a new construction for Karastan with a hand-woven wool base and a printed design.


Karastan debuted its new licensed program with Bobby Berk and his hand-woven Almada rug was a favorite of buyers.

KASHANIAN


Kashanian's overdyed vintage rugs were popular for their barely-there, erased patterns.

In the Kashanian showroom, the company's Vintage Overdyed collection was a highlight. These rugs feature washed-out patterns in subtle colors. The company premiered new Oushaks as well, featuring pops of on-trend colors like salmon pink, grey, ochre, moss green, and turquoise.

-- Continue reading The Best of High Point, Part 2