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:

Power to the flower!  Whether you’re looking to refresh your wardrobe or your home, the hot new floral trend is anything but garden variety.  For 2012 and 2013 rug collections, Safavieh takes inspiration from hot house orchids, tropical hibiscus, bougainvillea and more.  Couture fashion designers are doing the same in everything from dresses to shoes.

We were particularly taken with the artistic beauty of Italian shoe couturier Sergio Rossi’s Spring-Summer 2012 collection: his floral design (above) is so literal it looks as if the foot would be wrapped in vines and long-stemmed blossoms.  With this dramatic shoe is an equally high impact floral rug with brown background (Style WYD378C) from Safavieh's hand-tufted wool Wyndham Collection.

There’s a remarkable similarity between these hot house shoes and Safavieh’s rugs, some almost photo-realistic, others inspired by vintage botanical drawings. Here are a few rugs chosen by top retail buyers at the April 2012 High Point Market – each paired with Rossi’s amazing shoes.  Below is our Chelsea hand-hooked tropical floral HK212C in pure wool:

Next, a large wool hook rug from the Blossom collection by Safavieh (BLM 913A) with Sergio Rossi's sculpted floral sandal, both highly textural:

Tangerine Tango, the Pantone color of the year 2012 appears again in a hand-tufted Soho rug by Safavieh (SOH738A) paired with a flower-embellished flat shoe by Sergio Rossi in the image below:

Below, the Blossom Collection by Safavieh takes on an artful crafted look in this folkloric floral (BLM679A), and pairs amazingly well with a sandal with wooden heel and platform:

Below is a stunning example of the flower power trend, this time with the Wyndham rug by Safavieh (WYD378b) matched up with blue and purple flat sandals:

Next, the Chelsea Collection by Safavieh featuring a hand-hooked wool rug in a fashion-right floral motif (HK212B):

And for absolute drama in apparel and home, this final combination illustrates the new look of laser cut florals--literally in the Sergio Rossi shoe, and in the artful hand-tufting of Safavieh's wool rug from the new Modern Art collection (MDA620A) below:

With bold and colorful shoes and rugs trending big for 2013, you'll never want to tip-toe through the tulips again!

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.

Martha Stewart Rugs, an exclusive line designed by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO) and produced and marketed by area rug manufacturer Safavieh, will be expanded with 27 new SKUs to be presented for the first time at High Point Market,  April 21-27, 2012 at Suite 120, Historic Market Square.

Safavieh has devoted a front window at its showroom to a cross-merchandised vignette of Martha Stewart Fine Furniture and Rugs.  Two of the Martha Stewart rugs to be used in the displays are Abstract Trellis and Faux Bois.

Here's Faux Bois in a Martha Stewart room setting:

And this is a beautiful detail photo showing the silk and wool rug,  Abstract Trellis:

The new Spring 2012 rug launch, a collaboration between MSLO and Safavieh, has resulted in broad selection rugs of unique artistry, with Martha Stewart’s concepts brought to life in some of the finest weaving centers of the world in a variety of constructions and price points. The special attributes of each locale—its natural fibers, dyes, weaving techniques, and manufacturing equipment—were specifically considered to maximize the beauty of each new design.

The Martha Stewart design team has created a comprehensive collection that includes hand-knotted Nepalese and Tibetan rugs, as well as high-quality hand-tufted designs made in India to replicate fine hand-knotted carpets. Also new are several large-hook rugs and two Swedish kilim rug designs crafted in China.

A beautiful tromp l’oeil design, Fern Frolic (above) recalls images of vintage quilts with precisely placed repeating pattern appliqués. Hand-hooked in a large loop pile by master artisans in India, this pure wool area rug creates the illusion of ferns drifting across a soft neutral ground.

Evocative of the grassy plains of its namesake national park in Tanzania, Arusha (above) is a stylized abstraction of giraffe hide. Artfully hand-knotted in India of 100-percent premium wool, the graphic motif of Arusha is softened with a contemporary earth-toned palette.

We are looking forward to presenting the entire Martha Stewart Rugs collection at our High Point Showroom.  Please call your Safavieh sales representative for an appointment.