Korhani opens facility

By Cecile B. Corral -- Home Textiles Today, 6/3/2002 12:00:00 AM

SOREL, QUEBEC —

Area rug manufacturer and importer Korhani is opening up a new 525,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution facility here with a grand opening event planned for June 17.

The new site represents the company's third production plant in North America. The other two are in Atlanta and Port Huron, MI. Korhani operates two corporate offices in Canada, in Toronto and Quebec. It also has joint ventures in China, South Africa and Egypt.

But unlike any other Korhani-owned facility, this new site will be used to both produce — on state-of-the-art machinery — and distribute high-quality power-loomed area rugs for the North American market.

"Korhani's new facility manufactures cutting-edge designs, colorations and styles unlike anything Korhani has ever done before," Moji Korhani, coo, told Home Textiles Today. "Korhani's new assortment of machine-woven rugs are crafted on state-of-the-art German looms, which produce unlimited patterns at very attractive prices. Among these are several designer collections — including [the licensed program by designer] Bill Blass — as well as our popular Kingsleigh, Monarch and Patchwork collections."

The new facility, located 56 miles northwest of Montreal, is currently almost half developed at 225,000 square feet. The second phase of construction to add the remaining 300,000 square feet is scheduled to begin 2004.

The facility is home to not only manufacturing and distributing but also to the company's Quebec-based administration offices and the showroom of the company's Korhani of Canada Inc. division.