Nothing inspires Safavieh's designers more than nature… and the leopard is no exception.  These beautiful creatures were photographed at the fantastic Singita Game Reserves in South Africa, home to the most luxurious safari adventures on the planet.  The tender images of mother cheetah and leopards with their babies are particularly poignant on Mother’s Day, especially the ones by Singita staff member Marc Eschenlohr.  Who wouldn’t want to be on his jeep for a photo safari?

[caption id="attachment_1950" align="alignnone" width="468" caption="Photo by Marc Eschenlohr at Singita Game Reserve"][/caption]

Animal prints are a classic decorating motif, but Safavieh and its designers take creative liberty with the spotted motifs of leopard, cheetah and jaguar in their collections.  We celebrate these animals by emulating their skin in wool and silk blends, and all-wool rugs that are finely knotted by artisans around the globe.  Safavieh also offers beautiful designs in hand-tufted wool rugs and machine made rugs so that everyone can get the look, regardless of budget.

Here’s a tour of animal prints spotted throughout our collections, gathered together in one place for the first time ever.

[caption id="attachment_1951" align="alignnone" width="375" caption="Esmeralda Trellis by Thomas O'Brien for Safavieh Couture"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1952" align="alignnone" width="525" caption="Esmeralda Trellis by Thomas O'Brien for Safavieh at Hickory Chair"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1953" align="alignnone" width="535" caption="Baby Cheetah at Singita Game Reserve"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1954" align="alignnone" width="382" caption="Seneca by Thom Filicia for Safavieh"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1955" align="alignnone" width="384" caption="Fashion green in the Seneca design by Thom Filicia for Safavieh"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1956" align="alignnone" width="324" caption="Thom Filicia's Seneca in Mulberry by Safavieh"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1957" align="alignnone" width="429" caption="Interior by Thom Filicia with the Seneca rug TMF907A for Safavieh"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1959" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Photo by Marc Eschenlohr at Singita Game Reserve"][/caption]

Here are three interpretations by Martha Stewart Rugs:  the Bengal design in a few of its colorways:

And from designer Suzanne Kasler, a pastel Jaguar design inspired by her own safari in Africa:

[caption id="attachment_1964" align="alignnone" width="365" caption="Jaguar by Suzanne Kasler for Safavieh Couture"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1968" align="alignnone" width="415" caption="Suzanne Kasler's Jaguar Rug for Safavieh and furniture for Hickory Chair"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1965" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Baby Cheetahs at Singita Game Reserve"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1970" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Photo by Marc Eschenlohr at Singita Game Reserve"][/caption]

And finally, a hand-knotted wool rug from Safavieh's Tibetan Collection:

It's Official!

Plum is on Traditional Home Magazine's "New/Next" list and Jamie Drake is spokesman for the color in the decorating bible's May/June 2012 issue.  Shown above is a concentric square motif with lots of texture in solid plum in the new rug collection by Jamie Drake for Safavieh. Of course, the editors chose a rug from Drake's new rug line to illustrate the  Traditional Home story: the design is Alhambra (shown below):

Here's a reprint of the Traditional Home article featuring Jamie Drake:

And one more beautiful plum coordinate from the Jamie Drake rug collection for Safavieh:

Celebrity interior designer Thom Filicia is participating in the 2012 Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club Decorator Show House, dubbed the ”most influential decorator show house in the world.”  He is including a new, eco-friendly hemp and jute rug from the Thom Filicia Home collection for Safavieh in the space, and we're offering consumers and designers the opportunity to win one of these beautiful hand-knotted rugs.

All you have to do is guess which rug it is, and comment on Facebook at the link for this post.  All correct answers will be entered in a Safavieh random drawing for one Thom Filicia hemp and jute rug.  The winner will be announced prior to opening day of the Kips Bay Show House.

[caption id="attachment_1913" align="alignnone" width="480" caption="Clockwise from top left: Fowler, Wellwood, Henninger, Glen Haven"][/caption]

The 40^th annual Show House will be held from May 16 – June 14^th, 2012, at The Aldyn, a sleek modern building on Riverside Boulevard between 62nd and 63rd Streets off West End Avenue in New York City.

We are so proud that Thom selected one of his Safavieh rugs to showcase at Kips Bay, one of the most important events in the interior design business. The show blends decorative arts with the finest design talents in the world, and to have our product on display is a distinct honor.

The rug collection, which includes seven designs, is an extension of Filicia’s exploration of eco-friendly carpet fibers and weaves with Safavieh.  Thom is a strong proponent of green design and a Designing GreenLeader with the Sustainable Furnishings Council. These rugs are truly sustainable: in addition to sustainable fibers Safavieh even uses vegetable dyes.

[caption id="attachment_1917" align="alignnone" width="325" caption="Fowler by Thom Filicia for Safavieh "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1918" align="alignnone" width="325" caption="Glen Haven by Thom Filicia for Safavieh"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1919" align="alignnone" width="325" caption="Wellwood by Thom Filicia for Safavieh"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1920" align="alignnone" width="325" caption="Henninger by Thom Filicia for Safavieh"][/caption]

It's up to you to guess which rug will appear in Thom's space at this year's show house.  Remember, you have to comment on Facebook to be entered to win the random drawing.

While most of us can only dream of a bathroom like this, one small luxury is within reach for all. Take a look at the elegant vanity chair in this “Absolutely Gorgeous Bathroom Design” we spied on the hip web magazine freshome.com.

Every woman aspires to a dressing table and chair in her boudoir, and this photo inspired us to come up with six ways to get the look for less with Safavieh seating.

True, this luxurious blue and white bath is decked out with an expensive custom upholstered chair. But Safavieh’s vanity stools and boudoir chairs give you equally great design at a fraction of the cost.  Every piece is affordable, quick-shippable and giftable (say for Mother’s Day). They’re petite enough to tuck under a dressing table in in a bedroom, bath or even an upstairs hall.  And they’re the first step toward creating the makeup space of your dreams.

First, Safavieh's blue linen tufted Falcon Arm Chair (below) with white-washed finish birch legs and casters (MCR4544B):

Second, the Georgia Vanity Stool by Safavieh in blue sage polyester/linen blend (MCR4546B):

Or, the go-with-everything Georgia Vanity Stool by Safavieh in cream polyester/linen blend (MCR4546A):

Next, the Paris Chair by Safavieh: classic styling with French white wood finish and blue linen upholstery MCR4517L:

Perhaps not for the dressing table, but  perfect for the bathroom, Safavieh’s most popular storage ottoman, the Amelia Tufted Ottoman, in baby blue (HUD8220) with bleached white birch legs:

And last but not least: Safavieh’s tufted Baby Chair on casters (HUD8209A) with opulent button tufting and cherry-finished birch legs:

We’re blushing with pride over the attention our new Dhurrie rugs received at High Point Market two weeks ago.  The first big endorsement was from Shay Geyer, one of eight home fashion trendsetters selected by High Point Market to find the top products and trends during the April 2012 Market.  Shay “Pinned” our sunflower yellow Dhurrie on her High Point Market Style Spotters board for the Market’s big Pinterest promotion.

[Pinterest, a website that lets users organize and share photos on virtual pinboards, is one of the fastest-growing social networks on the Internet and is now driving more referral traffic than Google+, YouTube, Reddit, and LinkedIn combined.]

This was High Point Market’s second Pinterest promotion: The first contest was launched during October 2011 Market, and lauded internationally as an innovative way to use Pinterest as brand-building tool.

Here’s how it works:  Style Spotters like Shay covered April market on the lookout for great new finds and trends. When something really caught their eye, the Spotters pinned on a sign that highlights the Style Spotter’s name with a QR code and URL that links to a special High Point Market Pinterest board.  There’s a phone app that allowed market attendees to vote when they saw a Style Spotter pick they like. Voting continued online until May 3, generating “likes” or “repins.”

Each Style Spotter could select 25 products for their Market Pinboard. So that’s 8 Spotters times 25 products or 400 products.  When you consider that High Point, NC, is the largest furnishings industry trade show in the world (with more than 80,000 people and 2,000 vendors), that’s like finding “trends in a haystack.”

Shay has been a professional interior designer since 2001. Her work has been published in several magazines and she is the design expert for Good Morning Texas.  That’s why we were so flattered at her description of the new Dhurries:

“Safavieh flat weave wool Dhurrie rug shown in saffron yellow arabesque design. Love the fresh punchy color and pattern. Bonus: this rug is super affordable.”   You can find out more about Shay Geyer at her design blog.

We were also thrilled to find the same Safavieh Dhurrie rugs at the Layla Grayce blog. Owners Wendy and Tiffany, write on the blog that they were welcomed by incredible Dhurrie rugs at Safavieh.

And that’s not all: trade and consumer editors loved this and our other new Dhurrie designs.  Look for lots of magazine articles soon.

Do you love the soft, chic look of Safavieh wool Dhurrie rugs as much as the trendsetters do?  Let us know on Facebook

Wow! A full page in House Beautiful Magazine devoted to Safavieh’s Paisley arm chair: Quite an honor.  The May 2012 issue describes it as “a little tuck-in-anywhere chair.” That’s exactly what our research shows consumers want these days:  Smaller scale furniture that’s easy to maneuver and complements lots of settings.  The magazine goes on to say that with “nailheads, contrasting [pink] piping, and button tufts, this petite frame is really dressed up."  The Paisley arm chair (style MCR4580A) is shown in fashion-right charcoal grey fabric that’s a blend of linen, cotton and organic viscose yarns.

Best of all, House Beautiful likes the Safavieh Paisley Chair so much, they’re giving one away. Click to enter the House Beautiful Sweepstakes http://www.housebeautiful.com/sweepstakes/23080

Safavieh's Courtyard rug was selected by House Beautiful Magazine for the May 2012 issue in a feature on Kitchen Rugs.  Though designed for outdoor use of 100 percent polypropylene yarn, our new introductions are so stylish, the editor loves the idea of using them in the kitchen (where they're impervious to mildew, clean up easily, and are so easy on the legs and back when standing to do prep work).

House Beautiful also ran this story in their digital edition, describing Safavieh's Courtyard design as a preppy fretwork motif:

When it comes to celebrity homes, cowhide rugs now play a major starring role.  Just ask Jennifer Aniston, Christina Ricci and Miley Cyrus.  Though each of their abodes has a distinctly different architectural and decorating style, they share a common interior design icon: the cowhide rug in shades from tan to black to brown—sometimes in several rooms as a unifying decorative theme.

What a delight to find this versatile designer classic in three intriguing celebrity home stories on one of our favorite design websites, casasugar.com. First, we were awed by the brown cowhide rug in the gallery-style hallway of Jennifer Aniston’s West Village apartment in New York City (above).  According to Casa Sugar, the pad was recently sold for $500,000 less than the $5.9 million the actress paid a year earlier.

We love the bold graphic statement this black and white cowhide rug makes in Jennifer’s living room:

And we're particularly fond of the subdued elegance of the beautiful grey markings on the cowhide rug in Aniston's bedroom:

The Cowhide Rug collection by Safavieh currently offers nine rugs in natural tones as well as hides that have been stenciled in zebra and tiger patterns for even more dramatic impact. The natural, organic quality of these rugs lends a touch of soothing luxury to traditional as well as transitional and contemporary interiors.  Here's a glimpse of the Safavieh rugs:

Using the most luxurious full-haired cowhides from the grassy Pampas region of Argentina, Safavieh’s Cowhide rugs offer exceptional suppleness, quality and high-end style.  Only superior skins are chosen to ensure that a beautiful natural appearance will endure over time.

Designers have always favored cowhide rugs because of their natural patterning, color and size variations: all inherent characteristics that enhance the individuality of a home. Best of all, their free-form shape works wonderfully in spaces that aren’t suited for typical rectangular or square woven rugs.

“Cute, quirky, and full of feminine fun,” is how casasugar.com describes the Hollywood Hills home actress Christina Ricci has decided to renting out for $8000 a month In Ricci’s adorable cottage there’s a dark brown cowhide rug in the early Hollywood-style dining room below:

And a soft, light brown cowhide in the eclectic living room (love the green sofa, too):

Last but not least, we found Miley Cyrus’s secluded new $3.9 million estate on Casasugar.com. The remodeled mid-century modern ranch in the hills above Studio City, CA has wonderful cowhide rug in a seating area:

Here's a closeup of Miley's great room rug:

These homes are great, but out of reach financially for most of us. Now, with Safavieh's affordable, high-quality cowhide rugs, you don't have to be a movie star or rock star to get this star-studded look.

Designer Thomas O’Brien coined the phrase “vintage modern”, and his Alba rug for Safavieh is a perfect example.  This versatile rug adapts to design personalities from traditional to transitional and perhaps even European coastal.

It’s shown above in a transitional setting with an eclectic mix of warm woods and casual but textured solid upholstery.  Artisan-crafted rugs like these always present slightly lighter and darker sides, depending on the direction from which the pile is viewed.  Here the Indigo Sand colorway (TOB884A) is seen from the lighter side, with overall creamy beige effect.

The Alba rug by Safavieh in 8x10 size above.

And a closeup detail below for a better look at the color and texture:

The rug’s bands of medallions and charming vine border are also a great complement to a somewhat more traditional décor in a fresh-looking room where it’s used in an overall blue and white scheme with Chinese vases and striped fabrics.  The Safavieh rug is shown at the Hickory Chair showroom in North Carolina, which makes O'Brien's furniture (below):

In fact, O’Brien isolated the Safavieh rug’s motif from a fine 1920’s carpet for his modern take on Chinese Deco style. He enlarged the medallions and simplified the pattern arrangement for a more liberal feeling.  The pattern placement is undulating—providing a sense of movement and relaxation, a totally new look from the highly formal layouts of Chinese deco rugs.

The Indigo Sand colorway  (above), showing the nuances of hand-knotted rugs as the natural light hits them throughout the day.

This beautiful Nepalese area rug is woven of wool and silk, and is now offered in a colorway called Antique Moss (below), a mix of seafoam green with chocolate, khaki, and gilt (TOB884C).

Just one more look for a rug with many personalities.

Poppies burst on the scene last summer and they’ve grown into a fashion requisite for Spring and Summer 2012.  The perfect case in point is the new diaphanous halter blouse by designer Michelle Smith for Milly (above). It evokes the cayenne red colorway of Poppy Field, a richly textured area rug introduced by Martha Stewart Rugs for Safavieh at the 2011 summer markets in Atlanta and Las Vegas.

In two weeks, Safavieh will be presenting the collection by Martha Stewart at High Point market in three companion designs: Poppy Glossary (above), Poppy Field and the new Poppy Border (below). Color unifies the hand-tufted rugs so that you get a coordinated look:  perhaps the overall motif in a high traffic area, the Poppy Glossary with lighter contrasting background in a living room, and the border rug to define a dining room table, bed, or seating group.

Depending on the fashion designer and the fabric used, poppies can run the gamut from lady-like as in the Milly “Lucy luncheon dress” above (the name itself makes us smile) – to edgy as in Christopher Kane’s hot new collection splashed across fashion magazines here and abroad:

The Scottish born British designer describes his new spring collection as preppy with an edge—what the not-so-sweet set would have worn at prep school (if they could):

In addition to fashion brights, the rugs in this collection include a Cornucopia Beige colorway for those with neutral and soft blue color schemes in their homes.

Martha Stewart poppy rugs by Safavieh are hand-tufted in India of 100-percent wool, with cut-pile flowers against a loop-pile background.  There will be a total of 14 introductions in the Martha Stewart Rugs collection this market--we can't wait to show them off.