Area rugs take new shape for Kalaty

Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 6/3/2002 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

Indian area rug importer Kalaty Rug Corporation is preparing to expand its collection with shaped offerings for the first time. The official launch is scheduled for this July at the upcoming Atlanta International Area Rug Show.

"We've always had regular, rectangular rugs, but now we have rounds, squares, gallery sizes; and we're re-emphasizing runners again," Kamran Kalaty, director of marketing, told Home Textiles Today. "We saw a high demand for non-standard, shaped rugs because, for example, people are using round dinner tables these days more, and they need round rugs for them."

The new program consists of several Wools of New Zealand Brand collections, including Jaipura, Lateef, Le Palais, Nomad and Serafina. Through the Kalaty Shapes program, these hand-knotted rugs are available in 8', 10' and 12' runners as well as rounds and squares of 6, 8 and 10 feet diameters. Kalaty's Jaipura collection comes in gallery sizes of 4' x 8' and 4' x 10'.

Kalaty said that of the company's 15 collections, all of which are handmade in India of 100 percent New Zealand wool, eight to 10 will have shaped offerings added.

He added that the shaped rugs will be priced at retail at the same per-square-foot rate as its existing rugs. For example, the 8-foot round in the Lateef Collection is set at $1,152.