FloorCoveringNews

It has been an exceptionally rainy summer up in this corner of the country: The second wettest August made way for flooding caused by Hurricane Irene to finish up the month. The first week of September followed up strongly, flooding some additional locations in the Northeast, including my hometown, Binghamton, N.Y.

There are some very cool, new area rugs from designer David Hanauer, who has designed a collection based on Google maps imaging that he calls Worldwide Carpets. His designs are laid out from the center and radiate out to each of the four corners for symmetry that mimics a Persian rug. On his website he states, “Comparing to Persian carpets of former times, Worldwide Carpets interprets ornaments from these times into the 21^st century.”

The Northeast had a pretty shaky week. On Tuesday, Aug. 23, a 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit Virginia with aftershocks traveling up the east coast, followed by Hurrican Irene a few days later. Authorities and Mayor Bloomberg told New York City residents in what was possibly the worst Spanish I’ve ever heard to get out of the city. Evacuate. “El stormo grande is mucho dangeroso!” New York City shut down all transit systems—subways, buses, Access-a-Ride, Long Island Railroad and MetroNorth—in an unprecedented move to mitigate damage to the lines and keep passengers safe. It was my first time in a hurricane and I was terrified.

Don’t misunderstand Joe Ternullo when it comes to his 12-year-old son Joey’s racing career. The second generation flooring dealer is crazy proud of his boy’s racing accomplishments and his deep passion for the sport. But as much as he enjoys a summer night at the track, what he values just as much, if not more, is the ride to the track.

It’s during the hour-long ride from their Middletown, Conn., home of the Waterford Connecticut Speedbowl when father and son, and often daughter, Danielle, 16, get to talk.

One material I know little to nothing about in this business is stone, so when I was told a trip to Gawet Marble & Granite quarry was in order on my recent visit to Vermont, I was actually looking forward to it. Not so much for the technical stuff but for the art program that held residence on the site. Positioned on 200-acres of a former marble quarry and manufacturing site was a sculpture garden and active work spaces for artists— locally, nationally and internationally renowned. Because we were there on a rainy Sunday we only saw a few artists working, but they were tented and tapping away at a seemingly endless supply of excavated and abandoned marble and granite. I’ve never seen marble sculpture outside of a museum or church, so this was really cool to see up close. And despite my best efforts, I learned a little something about marble production too.

We’re starting a new series here at the FCNews blog: What matters most. We hope to share the good deeds of the people in our industry, and give some recognition for all the hard work they do that makes our world a better place. Our first post looks at Team Jake, established by Karen and Mark Cook of Cook & Kozlak Flooring Center in Canton, Conn.

Autism is a disabling brain disorder that affects the way a person communicates with other people. It’s estimated one in every 110 children is diagnosed with autism, making it more common that childhood cancer, juvenile diabetes and pediatric AIDS combined. The cause of the disorder is unknown.

Karen’s 14-year-old son, Jake, has autism and she consistently downplays her years of volunteer service. She says she’s simply “doing her part,” but others see it differently, saying Karen is a dedicated, passionate and creative person when it comes to supporting children and adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorders and their families.

An oxygen bar at a trade show? I’m not going to complain. When Beaulieu of America hosted one at Carpet One’s product showcase during its convention in Anaheim last week, I was very excited to try for free what would have generally cost me $1 per minute anywhere else these babies are popping up like casinos, airports and resorts. Started in crowded Asian cities like Beijing and Tokyo to purify residents’ lungs, it was a great change from the “bottled air” we are all used to breathing at trade shows.

Our friends at Mullican Flooring posted a great story about spring cleaning that we wanted to build on for your benefit, with a few extra tips on keeping your place of business clean.

Were you an attendee at NeoCon 2011? Did your wildest dreams come true when you met Bono thanks to a resilient flooring company (that will go by Company X on this blog)? In what has been dubbed a “PR no-no,” evidence has surfaced that Bono was not, in fact, an attendee of the trade show and that thousands of visitors were duped into thinking they were meeting one of the biggest musicians and activists in the world. It was really this guy.

Summering folk in the northern part of the U.S. spend the following months outdoors grilling, swimming, or pretty much anything that affords time outside.

In conjunction with a story I’m working on, I have been playing with the abundance of Quick Response codes that are popping up on advertisements and products seemingly everywhere. My search history has everything from TV shows to flooring products in it right now. Surprisingly to some, the flooring industry isn’t light years behind when it comes to this kind of application. So far I have found apps/QR codes for Wools of New Zealand, Armstrong, Mohawk, Shaw, Laticrete, Mannington, Earthwerks, Coverings, Crossville, Interface and the usual software suspects like QFloors and RFMS.

The 41st Earth Day is tomorrow, on April 22. Founded in 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson, it was created to draw awareness to our planet and is currently celebrated by 175 countries. In 2009, the United Nations designated April 22 International Mother Earth Day.

The way we do business is changing because the customer is inarguably different and the detail retailers seem most intimidated by lately is the cell phone. Shoppers everywhere are glued to their mobiles; walking down the street, driving in the car, even texting while carrying a conversation with a live person.

The following is an interview I conducted on tour with Tile of Spain‘s Reign in Spain design competition. This FCNews blog post is a first-hand look at what is important to today’s designers and architects.

Architect Scott Knudson, Wiencek & Associates, Architects + Planners, went to Spain with the hopes of finding new products and applications for tile in his projects.

The following is an interview I conducted on tour with Tile of Spain‘s Reign in Spain design competition. This FCNews blog post is a first-hand look at what is important to today’s designers and architects.

Lira Luis of Atelier Lira Luis is a Chicago-based architect specializing in organic architecture. An active tweep with projects around the world, she uses social media to keep her up-to-date on developments in the artchitectural and building materials world.

The following is an interview I conducted on tour with Tile of Spain‘s Reign in Spain design competition. This FCNews blog post is a first-hand look at what is important to today’s designers and architects.

Bob Borson is an AIA, LEED AP and NCARB certified architect, as well as the 2009 Dallas AIA Young Architect of the Year. He also authors the highly trafficked blog LifeOfAnArchitect.com, that gets more than 60,000 visitors per month from over 180 countries.

The following is an interview I conducted on tour with Tile of Spain‘s Reign in Spain design competition. This FCNews blog post is a first-hand look at what is important to today’s designers and architects.

A self-proclaimed social media newbie, Andie Day, licensed designer, Andie Day LLC, learned about the design competition through a Twitter group called Blogger 19, which she described as “a great group of intelligent, fashion-forward people to connect with.”

Thai manufacturer Sonite Innovative Surfaces was awarded the Best on Trend product at Surfaces 2011. The company  manufacturers mosaics, tiles and solid surfaces and showed for the first time at the industry’s biggest trade show from Jan. 24 to 27 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.

I recently had the honor of taking part in ASCER’s Reign in Spain trip to several cities in Spain, culminating at Cevisama, the world’s second largest trade fair for all things tile. Quite literally, it was all things, from building facades to drainage systems to bookshelves. Look for additional posts about the trip and the show to come in the very near future.

People who knew Al through his 50-plus year career in the industry have begun sharing their memories of Al with us. We would like to share them with you:

The residential soft surface market is defined as being that market in which the homeowner purchases carpet for their home. The commercial side is likewise defined as carpet purchased for facilities other than the home. The contract residential market is so termed as being carpet purchased for a residence by someone other than the homeowner, such as for apartments, condominiums, modular housing and speculative housing.

Welcome to the new Floor Covering News blog for 2011! We’re thrilled to offer our readers tips and advice from Robert Waugh of International Flooring Consultants. Check back for his bi-weekly posts and feel free to contact us at FCNews or Bob with any and all questions and comments. Happy reading!

Most flooring specialist retail observers see 2011 as another year of ups and downs due to the slow economic recovery, the lack luster housing market, and in anticipation of weak consumer confidence. Obviously, this depends on several key factors each specialist retailer must evaluate in his own market. These factors include:

In the name of the year and its new beginnings, FCNews is pleased to announce it will have a new contributor to its blog beginning this month. Robert Waugh of International Flooring Consultants will be contributing regularly, about twice a month. His monthly newsletter features lots of selling and flooring tips that he will be generously sharing here. Waugh’s posts are scheduled to come out the week between magazine issues.

We found this recently while looking through old issues of FCNews. It’s great to see West Bay Decorating Flooring Center 15 years later, still going strong! Cheers guys!

Here are another couple responses we got to Steve Felman’s editorial, Empire: Not an empirical experience. As always, please feel free to send your responses/impressions/ideas/musings to us via the site, email or Facebook.

I just wanted to share with you my absolute agreement on the [editorial] seven steps to gain confidence and patronage of women over the age of 50 (FCNews, July 5/12 – “Follow the purchasing power”).
Yep, that’s me, and your summary of key selling points hit the nail right on the head. It actually made me proud, because when you read the steps, you are describing a very solid, value-centric person— someone who can blend head and heart, logic and feelings in their decision making. It made me proud to be a 53-year-old woman!

I recently saw some cool, new area rugs while at G.Fried’s Carpet and Design Center on Long Island. Wendy, the store’s owner, showed a new offering from Sphinx by Oriental Weavers that features reversible rugs. Part of the Options Collection, the hand-tufted, wool pile area rugs have coordinating, though uniquely different patterns on each side, increasing the design possibilities of a room.

Here is a letter we received for Warren Tyler, our Salesmanship columnist. In reference to a column about company policy, this FCNews reader wrote to share his own frustrating experience with distributor policy. Perhaps this is something that has happened to you.

Hi Warren,

I just read your column on “Customer service vs. company policy” (FCNews, July 5/12). I have attended many of your seminars as well as read your “Unleashing Your Sales Potential” book. I am a believer in constantly learning to better serve my customers.

This is a wonderful update on what Bentley Prince Street is doing for green business from L.A.Times blogger Linda Daley. Click any of the links to get to the blog post.

It covers some of the points with which most of us are familiar like the company’s commitement to eliminate its negative impacts on the Earth by 2020, and measures taken within the factory to reduce energy consumption.

But read on to find out why BPS employees are dumpster diving!