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Rug Insider Magazine
News for the Rug and Carpet Professional 
InConversation with PAIGE ALBRIGHT: We asked proprietress Paige Albright of Paige Albright Orientals in Birmingham, Alabama her thoughts on the state of the “Atlanta” market: the Atlanta International Area Rug Market™ and the National Oriental Rug Show. She responded with thoughts on that market as well as on the relationship buyers have to markets globally. This is her perspective.
Nature’s inherent beauty is difficult to compete with even as it is so often cited as inspiration for a wide range of interior furnishings. Not only rugs and carpets call Nature muse, but fabric, wallpaper, tchotchkes, and more. And, now, as more exterior living spaces seek to ‘transfer the warmth of interior spaces to the outside world,’ how can a rug chosen to define and transform an outdoor space into a comfortable living environment compete with the natural beauty that surrounds it?
Domotex, the trade fair in Hannover, Germany, long ago established itself as the embodiment of its tagline, “The World of Flooring.” As the brand now expands globally with regional shows in China, Turkey, the United States, and soon Mexico, it is important to analyze what the show offers today’s buyers. Rug Insider asks Lisa Slappey of Pride of Persia Rug Company and Postmodern Traditions in Houston, Texas, to weigh in on Domotex and on the market more broadly.
According to Greek mythology, the Phoenix is a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated, born again each time it rises from the fiery ashes of its demise. But the ancient Greeks do not hold exclusive domain over the myth; this reincarnating winged creature exists in cultures the world over.
With the pronouncement of “Living Coral” as the 2019 ‘Color of the Year’ by a certain color marketing firm came the usual flurry across social media and beyond of image after image after image of products, including rugs and carpets, exhibiting the hue. Each of them, to quote Pantone, “emit the desired, familiar, and energizing aspects of [a] color found in nature. In its glorious, yet unfortunately more elusive, display beneath the sea, this vivifying and effervescent color mesmerizes the eye and mind.
Revered as deities, feared as harbingers of doom, or held as symbols of the inner struggles of man, animals have great significance in cultures around the globe. To thoroughly examine these varied interpretations of animals across the spectrum of humanity, would be a herculean task requiring volumes, and perhaps a lifetime to comprehend.
As the current reigning preeminent trade show catering to the hand-knotted and handmade rug and carpet industry in North America, The Rug Show presents buyers and attendees a broad offering of aesthetics and qualities. It is also not the first show to lay claim to the title and as such Rug Insider looks at its origins and its future by asking aloud the murmuring questions.
Brian Robins and Rebecca Lurie are the dynamic business partners who own and operate Kush Rugs in Portland, Oregon. Self-described as a “labor of love,” Kush is the manifestation of the founders’ pursuit of that basic, yet elusive goal: Do what you love! The gallery offers a fresh perspective on a centuries-old art, representing modern, traditional, tribal and custom work from all over the world. This is Robins’ own account of part of that perspective.
