Beaulieu Canada back in area rug business

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — Broadloom carpet source Beaulieu Canada is re-entering the rug business and has hired Paul Jesson as vice president of its new Area Rug Division, according to Karel Vercruyssen, CEO of Beaulieu Canada.

Jesson was president of Beaulieu’s former area rug business from 1983 to 1999. He left Beaulieu to join Korhani and later Springs Inds. in Canada, which acquired Beaulieu’s North American rug manufacturing facilities in 2002. Springs subsequently sold the operation, and it was closed.

After leaving Springs, Jesson formed Heritage Textiles, a sales agency and consulting firm.

“When this opportunity came to renew Beaulieu’s involvement with the rug business, I jumped at it,” Jesson told Furniture/Today. “I have very passionate feelings for this business and this company.”

He said the company’s immediate priority is to establish a marketing and manufacturing team in Canada.

Jesson said the new Beaulieu Area Rug Division will be involved with both scatter rugs and room size rugs. The company currently has tufting and printing manufacturing capability in Canada.

“We do not have weaving facilities in North America, but the parent company in Belgium has extensive weaving capacity,” he said.

Initially, Beaulieu Canada will market rugs in Canada, but long-term, the company also plans to sell in the U.S. market, Jesson said. Beaulieu Canada’s rug lines will be oriented to the value and mid-level price points, he added.

Surfing Surface for floor covering news

Surface, the world's largest annual floor-covering trade show, recently introduced the latest in flooring fashions to industry attendees hungry to pick up new trends. Manufacturers from around the globe convened in Las Vegas to show off a host of new floor-covering looks and styles, ranging from glazed Moroccan tiles to hand-chiseled hardwood.

Here, according to retailer group World Floor Covering Association, is what was hot:

• Vibrant colors.
  
• 
  
• Plush textures.
  
• 
  
• Luxurious looks.
  
• 
  
• • Customized rugs that are works of art in themselves.
  

Tiles designed for offices, dens and bathroom floors were presented in a wide variety of materials, including glass, porcelain, cement, rubber, brightly colored aluminum -- and even pony hair -- from a variety of makers.

Many manufacturers displayed one-of-a-kind pieces. Hand-painted tiles measuring from a half-inch to a full foot were shown in a variety of settings. There were also leather tiles in flat jewel tones and animal prints for home owners looking for lively accents.

Carpets and area rugs were on show in nearly every color, material and look imaginable, from hand-woven silk to leather.

If all these sound expensive, think again. There were stylish products for every budget.

As in previous years, banana leaf and sisal were also shown in abundance. Basket weaves and knotted rugs appeared among coverings for patios, living rooms and sun rooms.

Woods from such exotic locales as South America and Thailand were exhibited as wide planks, reclaimed antique, and stalks of natural bamboo laid side by side.

In addition, a number of manufacturers offered a variety of "green" products, including cork, bamboo and linoleum. Only the bark is used in making cork floor coverings, so the rest of the tree is left intact. Cork comes in a wide variety of colors and styles. Bamboo has been on the floor-covering scene for a number of years, but recent advances present the product in finer detail and darker shades.

Linoleum, which has been enormously popular for well over a century, is manufactured from renewable sources, such as linseed oil, resin, wood flour, cork powder and pigments. Linoleum's durability -- up to 40 years as flooring -- makes it very suitable for high-traffic areas.
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Monaco Carpet Designer Announces Bold New Concept

Monaco-based avant garde carpet designer Kamyar Moghadam reveals his new line of floor coverings which borrows concepts from the fashion world

Floors have not been getting quite the respect they deserve, if you listen to Monaco-based avant garde carpet designer Kamyar Moghadam. He's advocating equal treatment for these places which we may have grown accustomed to simply walking all over.

With "Fashion for Floors", his new line, he says: "You look at your floor the same way you look at yourself. You dress up: you dress your floor the same way you dress yourself."

Moghadam told the online magazine MonacoRevue.com he borrows techniques and materials from the fashion industry to create unique and luxurious pieces that could easily pass for works of art. Making no concessions to animal rights activists such as PETA, he mixes fur and leather in exquisite bed runners. "When you get out of the bed in the morning and you walk on that piece, you can only have a good day," he says. Another creation is a patchwork of raw silk and hand-dyed raw cashmere, which could work equally as a wall hanging or a floor covering, Moghadam suggests.

With saving the environment being such a hot issue, Moghadam even has a carpet that embraces eco-friendly principles. Instead of letting old jeans go to the landfill, he cuts them into squares and rectangles, then crafts them into quilted denim carpets.

Moghadam represents the second generation of the renowned Moghadam carpet house in Monte Carlo, which bears the title "official supplier to S.A.S. The Sovereign Prince of Monaco". And although the current ruler, Prince Albert II of Monaco, promotes himself as a champion of the environment, Moghadam betrays no hint as to whether princely feet tread on such recycled jeans up at the pink palace.

Moghadam presents his bold new concept in a video found at the website, an online celebrity and lifestyle magazine featuring articles from Monaco and around the world for an international readership.
http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/17739/

Rugs to Reinvigorate the Floor

Like anything else you buy for your house, an area rug is one part functional, one part decorative. Some people buy rugs to protect the floors underneath; others buy them to cover up what’s there. Some buy them to keep their feet warm on winter mornings and, yes, some of us buy them to aid our ailing pups.

Whatever the reason you’re considering adding rugs to your decorating dream list, says Celia Tejada, senior vice president of product design for San Francisco-based Pottery Barn, you ought to carefully consider your purchase, because the right rug can make a room.

“You want the rug to be the heart of the room in which the furniture plays around it,” she says.

In recent years, rugs at Pottery Barn, Target and other furniture retailers have become increasingly popular. More homes these days have wood or tile floors, rather than wall-to-wall carpeting, and new fabrics and manufacturing methods have lowered the prices. People are using rugs to bring in color and pattern into a room, because they can take it up and move it within the house. Regardless of your budget or personal taste, design experts say certain rules of the rug apply.

Not All Rugs are Created Equal

Tejada says some rugs, such as Persians, are like a couch, a household item that you’ll have for years, if not generations. Other rugs, like shaped novelty bathmats, are more like a vase of flowers that you change from season to season. Know why you want a rug and how much you want to spend before you go shopping. Once there, in-store decorators can help you by showing you the rugs to fit your needs.

Know Your Fabrics

Looking through a rack of rugs can be confusing; there are as many different materials as are likely to be hanging in your own closet. But just as you don’t pull out your boiled-wool jacket in the middle of June, floor-covering fabrics vary because they have different purposes.

Sisal, seagrass and coir are all natural fibers woven from plants. The rug buyers at Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based HomeLife say sisal in particular is popular now because it is durable and neutral in color. But even when woven, sisal has a rough texture, meaning it may not feel right on bare feet, and Tejada cautions “people with pets and kids do not want to have a heart attack every time something spills on a light-colored rug.” Dhurrie rugs are flat weaves made from either wool or cotton. Kilim rugs are similar to dhurrie rugs, but they often have more elaborate patterns and sometimes are reversible. Looped rugs, as the name suggests, have cotton loops from back to front and back again. These look great, but if your dog’s paw or kid’s toy truck gets stuck in one, you’ll have a permanent pull. Cotton rugs are generally softer than those from wool or plant fibers, but they show wear over time and stain easily.

Size Matters

More homeowners who have wall-to-wall carpeting use area rugs as a way to add color to a room. In general, leave at least a 2-foot border between the wall and the rug so visitors can see the differences between texture and color of the floor coverings. In large rooms, use two area rugs. Placed correctly, one can create a conversation area while the other works as an entranceway. In those cases, the two rugs don’t have to match exactly, but they should have coordinating colors and styles, she says.

Just a Dose of Whimsy

Tejada likes to use inexpensive shaped rugs, such as flowers, fruits, leaves and moons, to brighten children’s rooms, bathrooms and tie in to the seasons. Whimsical patterns, she says, can give personality to a room: “You can put something like that at the foot of the bed and it really lets you bring a sense of humor into the room,” she says.

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Choosing a carpet comes down to color and material

Carpet: The difference in what makes a house a home.

Fashionably speaking, people don't have to follow trends to dress up their homes.

When it comes to carpet, Steve Brociner, owner of Carpet Mill in East Hanover, takes the rugged individualist approach.

"Each family is different depending on size and traffic," he said. "And everyone has different taste. A couple starting out in an apartment will have different needs than a family with kids or pets."

In carpet-speak, that translates to color and material.

"Some people like nylon because it resists dirt," he said. "Others like wool because it cleans very well. But again it's about individual preference."

If your preference is to follow trends, then carpet diem this: In with color; out with solids. In with patterns; out with plush.

"People are going for more patterns such as floral or trellis," said Peter Kaufman, owner of Abbey Carpet Center in Succasunna. "They're moving away from the more plain or solids and going for more colors."

Berber, or looped carpet made from wool, nylon or olefin, has created a customer buzz, Brociner said.

"It has a utilitarian look," he said.

Rolling out the red, berber or trellis carpet isn't for everyone though.

Joy Nan Rodia, president of the Design Studio of Spaces in Morris Plains, has answered many calls for area rugs.

"The benefits of rugs over carpets is that there's no installation costs and they can be easily cleaned," she said. "They add warmth to a space and provide sound-proofing for hardwood floors."

Area rugs can tie elements of a room together or serve as the main focal point, she said.

"For example, if you have a large family room with a fire place and separate seating area you can use two rugs," she said. "You just have to color coordinate with the furniture and walls and make sure that the rugs are similar in design and color to themselves."

If you wouldn't wear plaids and polka dots, the same dress code rules apply to your floors.

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Designer offers decorating tips

Michael Habachy remembers his parents' reaction the first time they visited his one level, industrial style flat at Hastings Seed Lofts on Marietta Street.

"My parents were like, what in the hell are you doing," Habachy recalls, laughing. "It looked like a concrete attic."

But the imposing concrete columns, aged brick walls, exposed ducts and large open living space were the very features he found attractive when he purchased the loft a couple of years ago.

Decorating it was liberating for Habachy, an interior designer who specializes in upscale residential and commercial properties, because it gave him a canvas to use sleek, contemporary furnishings in a gritty, architectural setting.


"I wanted to blend the historical character of an old industrial building with modern design," he says. "I try to keep things really minimal and simple."

Here are some things to consider, he recommends, when decorating a loft:

SCALE

"Scale can be the height of the space as well as the amount of space you have between chairs and sofas," he says. For example, "in lofts, you can get away with a chunkier table that fills the area."

FURNITURE

Choose pieces that accentuate the height of the room and that look good from all angles, so they can float in a room instead of being placed against a wall.

"It's nice to have some furniture that looks architectural," Habachy says, "then make a couple of pieces the brat pieces — the ones that are going to get a lot attention."

FRAMED ART AND OBJECTS

Consider using large sculptures as focal points, and hanging oversized framed pieces to make an impact. Or, cluster smaller pieces together to make one large focal point.

"I personally like large accent pieces more than knick-knacky pieces," he says. "The funny thing is, I grew up around a lot of knick-knacks. It drove me nuts."

DIVIDING LINES

Many lofts, particularly authentic ones built in old warehouses, don't have interior walls. But you can create a visual separation with screens or architectural partitions made out of wood and translucent materials.

"If you can partition off the bedroom it would be to your advantage, especially if there's more than one person who shares the space," Habachy advises. Rugs are another way to define or frame an area.

GALLEY KITCHENS

Keep them clutter free. When possible, stash small appliances and other counter clutter.

"One thing I like to do in a kitchen that makes it more minimal and sleek is reposition the outlets," he says. "I put them under the cabinets in power strips, so no one can see them. That way, you can get a beautiful backsplash."

WINDOWS

Like many loft dwellers, Habachy likes naked windows that let in plenty of light without compromising his privacy. For clients who prefer window treatments, he suggests architectural ripple fold drapes hung ceiling to floor.

FLOORING

Nothing warms a loft like heavily textured rugs, such as thick shag or fur. Although wall-to-wall carpet is an option, think twice before covering the floors completely. Hardwoods or concrete add to the character of the home.

PAINT

When choosing colors, include ducts in the mix. Habachy painted his a soft taupe to tone down the glaring metal. "It doesn't look so loud and harsh," he explains.