NEW YORK -- Harounian Rugs International (HRI) will introduce its first machine-made collection at the upcoming Atlanta International Rug Market in January. Called Mastercraft, the range is produced on cross woven Wilton looms of very dense, finely spun polyester fiber, and includes four limited edition designs from New York-based HRI's archive of rare Persian antique rugs.

"The look and hand of this construction is unique to the market," says Greg Jordt, HRI's executive vice president, sales and marketing. "The production is done on a cross-woven Wilton loom, which not only gives each rug a soft, flexible handmade feel, but enables us to use up to 16 colors in a design rather the standard eight.  The density is incredible; I am not aware of any rug currently available that has more points per square meter," Jordt tells RugNews.com. The collection is made in Turkey and will be offered in sizes 3x5 up to 10x14. Suggested retail for the 5x8 is $600.

The goal of the collection is to offer classic designs that look and feel like hand-knotted rugs, he explains, noting that the specific polyester fiber used was selected not only for its soft feel, but for stain resistance and durability.  Equally important, the yarn reflects color just like very fine wool, Jordt says.

Lee Harounian, a principal at HRI, is responsible for developing the Mastercraft designs to be unveiled at Atlanta and Las Vegas markets. "Lee saw this construction a year ago in contemporary designs.  The first time he saw and felt the quality he thought of fine Persian masterpieces from Tabriz, Kashan and Isfahan, and for the next 10 months he worked to create designs that duplicated the very rare and extremely expensive antique Persian masterpieces that are in the Harounian collection of one of a kind collector pieces," Jordt explains.  

"The initial designs offered during the January 2016 markets will be Tabriz rugs that capture the sophistication and refinement of the classical 11th century Safavid court carpets, all woven in stunning jewel-toned colors.  The actual pieces duplicated are from the middle of the 19th century, woven by master weavers such as Kurban Dai and Faradji in Tabriz."

"We expect to sell through our initial offering during the Atlanta and Las Vegas Markets.   This is not a machine-made collection that is meant to be hung on a rack and sold from; a dealer needs to purchase what he is going to sell because this is a very limited unique offering. When it's gone it's gone, and we will move on to creating the next Mastercraft series."

The new collection represents HRI's foray into luxury rugs in the machine-made category.  The company has in the past offered machine-made container programs for volume retailers.