2009 America's Magnificent Carpets Awards

Furniture World Magazine

The world's newest, most spectacular carpets were honored at the Area Rug industry's most celebrated event Saturday, January 10, in the 2009 America’s Magnificent Carpets® Awards sponsored exclusively by Architectural Digest. The Awards—the signature event of the Atlanta International Area Rug Market® featuring The National Oriental Rug Show—brought more than 1,000 area rug industry buyers and manufactures together to celebrate the triumph of design achievement, with more than 80 rugs competing for the industry’s highest honors. The 2009 Awards—staged at the Marriott Marquis Atrium Ballroom—recognized America's newest area rug introductions in one night of elegance, excellence and excitement, complete with a high-energy musical performance featuring the String Angels—internationally acclaimed instrumentalists—all preceded by a lavish cocktail reception. A team of independent judges hand-selected the category winners from MOI: The Museum of Introductions—the area rug industry’s exclusive showing of new product introductions in a sophisticated museum setting in one complete presentation. The 2009 Winners (with all comments attributed to the panel of judges) are: Handmade $0 –12 per sq. ft: Loloi “beautiful soft tone color pallet and design…could be mistaken for a hand-knotted rug” (accepted by Amir Loloi) Power-loomed $0-200: Marcella Fine Rugs “fine design with a beautiful color pallet…the softness of the pile was absolutely beautiful” Handmade $12.01-23 per sq. ft.: Nourison “nice color and pattern…complex coloring…successful with difficult technique” (accepted by Pat Muschamp) Power-loomed $200.01-400: Couristan “great coloring, sheen and textures…great value for size” (accepted by Steve Bentley) Handmade $23.01-35 per sq. ft.: Safavieh “the simplicity and clean lines of this design make this rug special…the carved silk design adds to the uniqueness of this rug” (accepted by Cyrus Yaraghi) Power-loomed $400.01-1000: Karastan “beautiful design…exquisite use of symmetry and bordering…modern color pallet” (accepted by Anne Carley) Handmade $35.01-46: French Accents “vibrant coloring…fantastic pattern…excellent bordering…more versatile” (accepted by Danny Shafian) Power-loomed $1000.01+: Karastan “Art brush technique…great coloring” (accepted by Vickie Gilstrap and Anne Carley) Handmade $46.01-56 per sq. ft.: Creative Touch “intense reds…beautiful size…immaculate pattern” (accepted by Baki Ildiz) Antique: Chaman “beautiful symmetry…nice shape…unusual fill color…elegant color dynamic…great scale of design elements” (accepted by Omid Chaman and Daryoush Chaman) Handmade $56.01-65 per sq. ft.: Shalom Brothers “nice graduation of coloring…beautiful background coloring” (accepted Graham Smith, Rafi Amarian and Nader Shalom) Contemporary: Nalbandian “extraordinary technique…well colored…asymmetry is sophisticated…back is as a beautiful as front…well founded in classic textile design…respects it as a timeless design, but has taken that into contemporary” (accepted by Gabriel Nalbandian) Handmade $65.01+ per sq. ft.: Capa Imports “elegant…most exciting…crispness of color…exceptional three dimensions” (accepted by Atakan Yilmaz, Tiffany Weddle, Soner Girek, Shevar Bor, Tarik Gulhaoglu, Mehmet Ginar) Buyer’s Choice Award: Capa Imports (accepted by Soner Bilgin and Mehmet Ginar) Additionally, one showroom on each of the Area Rug floors was honored for extraordinary visual merchandising innovations with the high profile Visual Display Award (VDA). The 2009 VDA winners are: Floor 3: Nourison Floor 4: Loloi Floor 5: Marcella Fine Rugs Floor 6: Surya