AmericasMart University Offers Seminars in Best Business Practices

AmericasMart University Offers Seminars in Best Business Practices

ATLANTA, GA - the January 2009 session of AmericasMart® University (AMU), the retail business education program offered to buyers at the gift, home decor and area rug show in Atlanta, features classes in Retail Business Basics, Buying & Selling and Building Your Brand.

The January 2009 AMU schedule is:

THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009

Explode Your Sales - Simple Marketing Ideas That Will Blow Your Mind (Buying & Selling - Beginner): Presenter - Bob Negen. Sponsored by One Coast. Breakfast. Location: Building 2 - West Wing, 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Electronic Marketing - Easier, Cheaper, BETTER! (Building Your Brand - Beginner): Presenter - Bob Negen. Sponsored by One Coast. Location: Building 2 - West Wing, 10:30 a.m. to Noon.

Strategies in Developing an Exceptional Souvenir Business (Buying & Selling - Beginner): Presenter - Cathy Fischer. Sponsored by Options. Breakfast. Location: Building 2, West Wing, 6th Floor, 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

A Crash Course on Buying (Buying & Selling - Beginner): Presenter - Mercedes Gonzales. Location: Building 3, 3rd Floor Conference Center, 10:30 a.m. to Noon.

Training the Best Sales Team (Retail Basics - Beginner): Presenter - Mercedes Gonzales. Location: Building 3, 3rd Floor Conference Center, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

Increasing Sales by Understanding the Value of Designer Rugs (Buying & Selling - Beginner): Presenters - Suzanne Kasler, Jamie Drake and David Easton. Sponsored by Safavieh. Wine reception and ribbon cutting. Location: Building 1, Safavieh Showroom, 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 2009

Doing Business in the New Norm (Retail Basics - Beginner): Presenters: John Haste and Becky Smith. Sponsored by IMAX. Breakfast. Location: Building 2 West Wing, 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Where Have All the Customers Gone? (Building Your Brand - Beginner): Presenter - Chris Lemley. Location: Building 3, 3rd Floor Conference Center, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Hiring & Firing Employees (Retail Basics - Beginner): Presenter - Carol Hacker. Location: Building 3, 3rd Floor Conference Center, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

Unique & Antique Rug Forum (Retail Basics - Beginner): Sponsored by the Oriental Rug Retailers Association (ORRA). Contact ORRA for details: 804.270.3195; orraarnold@verizon.net. Location: Building 1, 4th Floor, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2009

Walk the (Area Rug) Market with Phil (Retail Basics - Beginner): Presenter - Phil Menendian. Sponsored by the Oriental Rug Retailers Association (ORRA). Location: Building 1, 2nd Floor, ORRA booth, 11:00 a.m.

Are Your Sending Customers to Your Competition? (Retail Basics - Beginner): Presenters - Steve Boodakian and Sy Mahfuz, MERA Consulting Group. Location: Building 1, 4th Floor, 1:00 p.m.

Dates for the 2009 Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market are January 6-14 (permanent showrooms) and January 9-13 (temporary exhibits).

Dates for the 2009 Atlanta International Area Rug Market featuring The National Oriental Rug Show are January 7-12 (permanent showrooms) and January 8-12 (temporary exhibits).

Afghan Bag from a cuff

Here is a vido of a bag made from the cuff of an old garment. As my grandmother used to say: "waste not want not."

Haqiqi donates carpet tableau to Astan-e Qods Museum

November 17, 2008

Iranian artist donates carpet tableau to Astan-e Qods Museum
Tehran Times Art Desk

TEHRAN -- Iranian carpet weaver Feizollah Safdarzadeh Haqiqi donated a Persian carpet tableau entitled “Allahu Akbar Minaret” to the Astan-e Qods Razavi Museum in Mashhad on Sunday.

A veteran carpet weaver from Isfahan, Haqiqi has donated several carpet tableaus to the museum in recent years from among his Persian carpet masterpieces, including ones featuring the Imam Reza (AS) shrine, the City of Medina and the Chehel Sotun palace.

The silken carpet, designed by Noruz Hafizi, features a three-dimension picture of the text of the Azan (the Islamic call to prayer) that spirals around the minaret.

“The carpet required about 3000 hours to be completed,” Haqiqi mentioned in a press release.

Mirkazemi Steers Iranian Carpet Industry to Sucess

Carpet consortium to realize Mirkazemi dream

November 10, 2008 (Iran)

Persian carpets, with their intricate weaving techniques, beautiful assortment of colours, and explicit designs, hold the top rank in the list of carpet exporters across the globe. Recently, Masoud Mirkazemi, Commerce Minister of Iran, called for the formation of a national consortium of hand-woven carpets for the exports. This will help the age old handicraft to survive the fierce competitions from the cheap imitations. In a seminar, Mirkazemi said that forming a national consortium would help the Government secure the market for Persian carpets, so that local producers can get financial support when they opt to participate at carpet exhibitions in foreign countries. The Commerce Minister invites private sectors to increase their investment in the Iranian carpet industry, so that country’s share in the world consumption may surge. Available statistics show that till date, exports of Iranian carpets increased by 7 percent, since the beginning of the current financial year. It is estimated that more than 1.2 million weavers in the country are engaged in catering to the demand of the domestic as well as international market.

Iran Carpet Exports Surge Under Mirkazemi Exports Up7%

Iran to form carpet export consortium
Sun, 09 Nov 2008 15:31:54 GMT
Iran's Commerce Minister Masoud Mirkazemi has called for the formation of a national consortium for the export of hand-woven carpets.

“Forming a national consortium would help the government secure the market for Persian carpets,” said Mirkazemi at a Tehran seminar on Persian carpets.

“In this way, the government can also financially support the participation of Iranian producers at carpet exhibitions in foreign countries,” he added.

Genuine Persian carpets have recently come under fierce competition from other countries that either produce fakes of the original Iranian designs or poor quality, cheaper substitutes.

Mirkazemi said Iran's carpet exports have increased by 7 percent since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 2008), however, he stressed that there must be a unified effort to increase Iran's share in the world carpet trade.

The commerce minister also urged the private sector to increase its investment in the Iranian carpet industry.

There is an estimated population of 1.2 million weavers in Iran producing carpets for domestic markets and international export.

Indian Carpet Trade Collapsing Market Off 90%

Thousands without jobs in carpet export hub

Saubhadra Chatterji / Bhadohi November 10, 2008, 0:33 IST

Three carpets, wet with chemical-laced water, could be seen on the large, barren field in Sarroi village of Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh, soaking the afternoon sunlight. The far end of the field was dotted with two abandoned, naked brick structures.

“The first one was migrant workers’ house. The other had my carpet-making looms. I used to wash (the process of drying chemical-laced carpets) a hundred carpets on a single day. Now, as you can see, there are just three of them,” Asir Ahmed said. “Like a pariah dog in search of food, every morning I run everywhere in search of orders.”

Jagdish, another contractor, had 12 to 13 workers in each of his gola or groups. “I don’t have much work these days. So I have four workers in each gola. The retrenched workers have gone away to Surat and Mumbai in search of jobs or are sitting idle at home.”

Beyond the bankruptcy of international financial giants, beyond the crash of the Sensex, the ripples of the planet’s greatest economic slowdown are fast reaching newer milestones in India. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh might have succeeded in saving a few thousand jobs in corporate India when he met industry captains last week, Jet Airways may well have retained its 1,900 employees, but here in the hinterland of Uttar Pradesh — famed as the carpet hub of India — the poor are being retrenched in thousands.

PLEASANT MEMORIES Carpet exports from Bhadohi
2005-06	Rs 3,082 crore
2006-07	Rs 3,674 crore
2007-08	Rs 3,524 crore

Among India’s major carpet producing centres spread over around six states, Bhadohi is the biggest name — it accounts for almost 65 per cent of India’s total carpet export, according to the Carpet Export Promotion Council.

The situation today is bleak. “For the past three months, I have not received a single new order which means a loss of almost Rs 3 crore,” said Vinay Kapoor, the owner of Kapoor’s Carpets. “Job uncertainty and the meltdown have wiped out consumer appetite this Christmas, which, otherwise, is the peak season for carpet sales,” added Ravi Patodia, president of the All India Carpet Manufacturers’ Association.

According to an insider, many carpet-makers have closed their business as export orders, which account for more than 95 per cent of the business in Bhadohi, “have reduced to 10 per cent compared to last year’s corresponding period”. Patodia confirmed that export orders worth at least Rs 300 crore have been cancelled in the past few weeks.

Ismail, who works in a carpet factory, fails to understand all this. He knew that he had Rs 50 in his pocket after a day’s hard work and a family of seven to feed. He didn’t know if he will get some work tomorrow or not, as his tired body faded away in the dusty bylanes of Bhadohi.

Dust was also gathering in Kapoor’s godown — on a ‘made in Bhadohi’ Persian carpet crafted by four artisans over eight months as it waited for someone to buy it for Rs 1 lakh.

Rug Morning in Seattle December 6

I just got a Google Alert about me. So I thought I better post it here as well:

Possible "Rug Morning" on the horizon and other ramblings
By Seattle rug cleaning(Seattle rug cleaning)
Barry O'Connell has been in Seattle for work and has kindly offered to help me put on a few "Rug Mornings" starting December 6th! I will post more details as they come up.

The whole idea of a Rug Morning is to have some fun looking at handwoven rugs. I try to look smart by knowing everything about rugs (I don't) and there is always someone who brings in a ringer carefully selected to make the "Expert" look dense.

Kateb & Veysian visit Pakistan Carpets Exhibition

INCC REPRESENTATIVES ATTENDED PAKISTAN CARPET EXHIBITION
News Content:	Iran National Carpet Center representatives attended Pakistan Hand knotted Carpet Exhibition which was held in Karachi last week. Engineer Mahdi Kateb( Coordination and Supervision on Production Manager) and Engineer Seyyed Mohammad Veysian( The Director for Raw Materials and Dyeing Research of Research and Training Management) and closely probed the exhibition. Pakistan Hand knotted Carpets Exhibition 2007 was held in a surface about 3000m2 with nearly 50 stalls at the hall no.6 of Karachi Expo Center. This exhibition was inaugurated on behalf of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry with participation of Pakistani manufacturers and carpet importers to other countries. "The exports of Pakistani carpets have remained stagnant for many years and are swaying around $230-250 million. This is due to the fact that only traditional markets have been tapped while there is a need to bring about a paradigm shift in the marketing, manufacturing and presentation of hand-knotted carpets from Pakistan." Said the president of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The KCCI chief, Majyd Aziz, further added that carpet exports are less than 1.5 percent of the total exports of Pakistan, even though this industry provides livelihood to whole families rather than just individuals. He also called for setting up a state-of-the-art equipped carpet city to cater to large orders. It is noteworthy that Pakistan makes an effort to appear as a strong rival of Persian Handmade Carpets by boosting the quality of its carpets and making a variety of designs resembling the quality and variety of Persian carpets.
Translated by:
Source:	Public Relations of INCC
Picture:

Iranian carpets Huge Success at Kuwaiti Carpet Exhibition

Iranian carpets attracts huge footfalls

November 08, 2008 (Kuwait)

The Fourth International Kuwaiti Carpet Exhibition titled 'Kuwait Antique and Carpet' was inaugurated on November 6, by Ali Jannati, Iranian Ambassador to Kuwait, at the Kuwait International Fairs Ground. During the opening ceremony, many officials from Kuwaiti Commerce Ministry were present. Along with 36 Iranian carpet companies, 14 enterprises from other countries like Morocco, Yemen and India are also showcasing their excellent craftsmanship here in the expo. Rashid Al-Sayed Yousef Al-Tabatabaei, Deputy Commerce Minister, while addressing the people present during the event said that Persian carpet hold a special position in the hearts of art lovers because of its elegance, excellent quality, design and beautiful amalgamation of colour. While talking to reporters Ali Jannati, said that last year, bi-lateral trade between Iran and Kuwait stood at US $750 million; of which around $500 million accounted for Iran's exports to the country. Iranian pavilions have occupied most part of the exhibition. Experts are expecting that this year, with the kind of footfalls these stalls are being able to attract, sale will be quite high. The event will run till November 15. http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=65685

Kevin Pearson of Pearson Carpet Care

One guy who I am really impressed with is Kevin Pearson of Pearson Carpet Care, LLC. 525 N. Houston Avenue, Humble, TX 77338, 281-548-7200 Fax 281-548-7201 Cell 281-723-8603 www.pearsoncarpetcare.com
Kevin is not just a great carpet cleaner but he is a really sharp guy. It is good to see men of his caliber in the rug cleaning business.