Trade Show Preview: What’s on Tap for Atlanta this January

Home Furnishing News

Posted: Dec 2 2014 By Andrea Lillo

ATLANTA—For many in the industry, 2015 kicks off here, at the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market (Jan. 6-13) and the Atlanta International Area Rug Market (Jan. 7-10).

Among the highlights is the debut of Floor 15 in AmericasMart’s Building 1, a new Home & Design collection that adds more than 100,000 square feet of exhibition space for design-led furniture. The first nine showrooms anchoring this Home & Design floor are: Design Legacy by Kelly O’Neal, Codarus, Gabby, Bliss Studio, Calvin Klein by Veronica Flam, Rene Cazares by Veronica Flam, Lowcountry Originals., Jamie Young Company and Wendover Art Group. The floor will also have the Designer Workspace, a 6,000-square-foot space.

A new Floor 6 bridge between the Home & Rug collection in Building 1 and the Gift collection in Building 2 will provide another path through all three AmericasMart buildings. The new bridge will have a grand-opening ribbon cutting and champagne toast on Wednesday, Jan. 7 at 3 p.m. Complementing the new bridge is an update to the Floor 6 elevator lobby.

The biggest showroom to debut at market is from rug company Devgiri Exports, in a 12,000-square-foot space (Building 1, 5-A1), while Codarus, with its move to Floor 15, and Select Artificial, which is moving to Building 1 Floor 19, have the largest expansions. Another one of the biggest new showrooms to debut this market is from ELK Group Intl., which will debut its new 10,000-square-foot showroom in Building 1, B-6-F2. The space will showcase ELK’s family of home decor, home accents, furniture and lighting lines—under the new brand Dimond Home, which includes Dimond Lighting, Lazy Susan and Sterling—together for the first time.

Other showroom changes in Building 1 include: Capel Rugs, which will open a relocated and expanded showroom on Floor 3, in 3-C-15; Europe 2 You, which will expand its Floor 10 showroom to showcase Italian manufacturer and retailer Dialma Brown’s line; and Jaipur Rugs, which will relocate its showroom to Floor 12 to space 12-F-9.

In addition, there will be a new cafe on 14 on Building 2 Floor 14, and which will be open daily for breakfast and lunch during market.

Events for the rug industry include the annual America’s Magnificent Carpets Awards, on Friday, Jan. 9, at 6 p.m. The event, taking place at the Westin Peachtree Plaza, recognizes the newest area rug introductions. Then on Jan. 10, AmericasMart hosts the Breakfast of Champions, in Building 1, 4-B-1, starting at 9 a.m., which will celebrate the AMCA winners. From Jan. 7-10, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., the AMCA nominees will be displayed in the Museum of Introductions Gallery, in Building 1, Floor 4, 4-B-1.

AmericasMart has a full schedule of other events, including presentations from such experts as Laurie Pressman of the Pantone Color Institute, Jamie Durie of HGTV’s The Outdoor Room, Jeff Mauro of Food Network’s The Kitchen and The Sandwich King and celebrity wedding and entertaining expert David Tutera.

The markets also set the launch of new lead retrieval services. Offered to both permanent and temporary exhibitors, the devices offer quick badge scanning, easy lead qualifying and more.

AmericasMart also continues to update the AmericasMart app, which will deliver an enhanced customer experience and is available on iTunes and Google Play. Free Wi-Fi connectivity throughout the three-building campus will support the app.

More details on the Atlanta markets—as well as the other shows in the first half of 2015—are in the December issue of HFN.

 

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