What markets and design centers do you attend regularly?
We attend every High Point & Atlanta market, and sometimes make it to New York. As we have a store in Atlanta and it is not too long a drive from Aiken, we go to ADAC fairly often.
Do you have a favorite style or fiber for your rugs?
As designers, our goal is to please our clients. We try to find the rug that the room is calling for. We use all types of styles and fibers, from hand knotted, to flat weaves, to Oushaks. We love rugs and use all types and styles of rugs.
Do you have a favorite rug source?
Oh my, we work with a lot of wonderful dealers. For natural fibers I think Design Materials (DMI) is wonderful both for the price point and choice. Their representative is great. Safavieh is upper end and has designer lines that are terrific. We really like their line. Surya, they have a massive selection and stock the rugs well and deep. Getting samples from them is simple and so quick. We love Dash and Albert for their wonderful selection of cotton and wool rugs and for the quality. Nomadic Trading out of North Carolina offers beautiful overdyed and patchwork rugs that we love. We also use both Jaipur and Chandra. Obviously rugs are important to our clients and to us.
Do you order online?
We use the computer a lot, primarily to check stock and availability. It can be so much more accurate than a catalog, which gets out of date quickly. We are a retail and designer business with fairly small space, about 3,500 square feet. We have the Design Materials (DMI) and the Dash & Albert rack in the store—with samples available. There just isn’t enough room for more. To make sure the color is correct, we order samples quite often.
Do you buy custom very often?
A good custom designed wool rug can be quite expensive, so we don’t often get the luxury of designing custom rugs. We are usually working with a budget and a custom rug can be $8,000 to $10,000. Our overall budget for a single room including EVERYTHING may only be $25,000, so when you put a custom rug it can take too much of the budget. We have to think of the overall project and the cost.
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