Happy New Year! Though I do not personally celebrate Chinese New Year, it seems my blog does and so with that, and the fortuitous timing of my recent trip to San Francisco corresponding with said new year, I welcome you to another glorious year of The Ruggist! Of course you are right to point out that we are off to a slow start this year, in fact you can say we've been downright lackadaisical in general about posting/writing. This has no doubt left you, my forlorn reader wondering what has been going on in the world of rugs. Well no more! So with only moderate sincerity, I ask that you forgive me for my lapses as I forgive you for yours and suggest that we now focus on the topic at hand: San Francisco.
Warning: This post begins with some ramblings about my personal travels and goings on. If you'd like the "real" story, skip to the bottom and read about floordesign.
Red Spruce Collection for Odegard (The Opening Shameless Plug)
I had the pleasure of traveling to San Francisco the first week of February so that I could join Stephanie Odegard in launching, amongst other things, Red Spruce in the Odegard San Francisco Showroom. I will, without shame, say the events of the week were great, the hospitality of Ms. Odegard, Dana Greason (and her husband Sam) and Ed Valenzuela was so kind, and that my Red Spruce Collection was very well received by those in the know. Maybe it is because there is a special affinity for authenticity in San Francisco, or maybe it is because we have a special affinity for colours other than beige. Either way, thank you to Odegard and to San Francisco for your support of Red Spruce.
Invitation for the launch featuring Hallo Metok. Designed by Odegard made by Red Spruce
Getting closer to the point but not quite there.
Timing as they say is everything. Which reminds me of that wonderfully written scene in The King's Speech where the Duke of York says something to the effect of "...timing is not my strong suit." Now while my stellar advertising salesman from Cover David Young may also be English, he has no stammer, and in fact has a decent sense of timing. He very astutely put together that both I and Hali/Cover Publisher Sebastian Ghandchi would in fact be in the same city at the same time and he set us on a path to meet. Thus I had the distinct pleasure of enjoying what, when I write my autobiography, will be called "The power lunch of leading rug writers at the world famous
Greens Restaurant". (Please note that the unwarranted arrogance and name dropping is intentional.)
During the conversation we discussed, as is often discussed when I am present (See this
Post of The Ruggist) topics that for reasons varied I am told not to repeat or quote. (Apparently the reputation of this blog needs some fine tuning, but I digress.) In fact, this time I was specifically and only half jokingly asked if I was recording the conversation. I was not. Now as fate would have it, on our flight home (our, as my soon to be quoted husband accompanied me on this trip) I was passing time flipping through the
Skymall Catalog (of dubious products) and noticed this Ruggist must have product. Now if you know me, you know I love my glasses. My many many pairs of glasses. I figure with my well known penchant for "interesting" eyewear I should easily be able to wear these to my next meeting without fear of being caught. I mean, they are so unobtrusive and stylish.
Look for The Ruggist wearing these the next time you see me!
At this point you must be asking yourself. What for the sake of God (in his/her various forms and incarnations) is he going on about? Is there a point? When will he get there? Soon I promise.
floordesign (promise fulfilled)
As I was called to San Francisco for work, I decided to also include a little play (something I learned from Kerry Smith of Lapchi. Work hard, but enjoy life along the way.) but also to include a little Ruggist research and so I called upon my dear friend Patrick Aaron at floordesign. Though he knew I was coming he didn't know when exactly (The Ruggist did not make an appointment) and I swaggered through the door on a warm tuesday afternoon announcing myself quite mater of factly to his exceptionally good phone screener/receptionist Emilia. And with that Patrick descended the stairs like (insert any movie reference you would like here) and greeted me warmly. "Ahhh. So good to be in San Francisco." I thought.
Now Patrick and I go way back. Back to the days when I worked with Lapchi and was merchandising the hell out of the best showrooms in the country with Lapchi samples and carpets. AtelierLapchi the project was so called at the time, and while the vision has changed (as they always do) the intent and goal was achieved. To this day I'm not one hundred percent certain if I was asked to work with floordesign because they were jumping on the Lapchi/AtelierLapchi bandwagon or because, quite bluntly, if you are going to have to send someone to San Francisco, you might as well send the gay guy. No matter the reason, Patrick and I became fast friends and I always enjoy my time with him and his showroom staff. Though I've said it privately for years, I will now publicly (and maybe a bit to the consternation of Mr. Aaron) announce that floordesign is "the gayest rug showroom in all of the United States". End quote. This should not come as a shock to anyone. It is a fact of life. They're located in San Francisco and they sell to the design industry. It's the perfect storm of gayness. But I digress. I'm not here to talk about how there really is no place like San Francisco and that I (and my husband) aspire to "winter" (as a verb) there. No I'm here to talk about rugs and the selling of rugs. I know, who would have thought that.
Let's begin with the official endorsement that I am sure (note eye roll) Mr. Aaron will be using in his forthcoming marketing material. "If I were going to buy a rug or carpet in San Francisco that was not made by Odegard or Red Spruce (wow! notice the subtlety) I would buy it from floordesign."
All facetiousness aside floordesign is truly not only the most efficiently and smoothly run multiple line rug showroom in the United States, they also have some of the best sales and support staff I've ever met. On top of that they carry a great selection of rugs and carpets (and broadloom) from two dominant names in the world of rugs: Lapchi and Tufenkian. Patrick, the CEO, not the President as his dateable to the 1980's name plate on his desk might suggest) is no fool. He has a discerning eye for rugs, is a shrewd buyer, and is a rarity in the work of rugs in that he, oh how does one say, oh yes, pays his bills on time. He and all of his staff have a genuine concern for the success of the company, and I've never in my many visits, seen a client go unattended. They just do it to steal from Nike, and I, for what it is worth, think they could start selling courses on how to run a showroom. So in case you've missed it: They do it, and they do it well.
However.... Mr. Aaron's desk nameplate is/was not the only element of floordesign that was dateable or moreover in this case dated. For all of their personal knowhow (a huge portion of sales), the inside (but oddly not the outside which has always remained fresh) of their showroom was, as a dear designer friend of theirs who recently offered a complimentary consultation to help makeover their showroom pointed out "stuck in the eighties". As this story was retold to me by Patrick, I listened intently looking around trying to remember what it had previously looked like. When he finished with ..."eighties" I said what any self respecting opinionated highly-regarded irreverent homosexual rug blogger would say "Did she mean 1880's or 1980's?" (my people, as we joke, have a way with sarcasm). Patrick was only mildly amused. So, what does an eighties era rug showroom look like? With some digging I was able to find this photo.
Armando Villesenor (Formerly of Lapchi) speaks at the Launch of AtelierLapchi at floordesign.
You'll note The Ruggist (before there was) seated at the far right. Circa Spring 2007
View of the same wall. Repainted and with fewer rugs hanging which cluttered the wall.
The transformation is of course striking. If you'd like to see more photos of the "refreshing" you can find floordesign on facebook
here. Now of course I would like to be self-serving and claim that Patrick was prompted to paint and refresh his showroom due to my previous writings (
Click on me!!), but this is of course not the case. Patrick, like every other businessman who has been successful over the long term, surrounds himself with good people who give good advice. Do you always want to hear it? Of course not. Is it necessary? Absolutely! I tip my hat to the fine people of floordesign, and wish them continued success.
floordesign footnote
I really wish I had been wearing the aforementioned sunglasses when I took the opportunity to show Patrick a study of the handwork carpets Red Spruce makes. Was he impressed by the quality and texture? Yes. Do I wish you could all see the look on his face when I told him the pricing? Yes. Sadly, the sunglasses order was not even a glimmer in my eye at that point.
Quotable
"The Ruggist is lovable but infuriating." so said Nicholas Christie, husband of The Ruggist, to which the Ruggist replied, "Hahah. I think the people at [[Name of Rug Company Redacted]] would agree with you on the infuriating part.
Why? Why? Why? The conclusion and point! (Notice the Colour: Thank you Pantone)
Find your niche large or small and excel. Listen to advice and take action, and above all, enjoy what you do. Just do what you do and do it well. All of this of course, unless you write a rug blog. Then just phone it in like The Black Eyed Peas' remake of "(I've had) The Time of My Life". That remake is like the rug below, and they are both like a train wreck. You cannot help but look and listen in horror. Speaking of horror, do you know what is horrible about the rug industry? Lack of originality. Oh I am not saying there isn't any original work, far from that actually. But what I am saying is that there is way too much unoriginal work. Take for example this carpet (As seen in an unnamed retail showroom in San Francisco). It is newly woven rug of a design intended to mimic the look of true patchwork carpets. Really? That is just laziness and ignores the virtues of patchwork carpets both from a design and from a re-use perspective. Whomever makes these carpets and whomever sells them really needs to put some thought into their lack of design integrity, not unlike the Black Eyed Peas and whomever consumes their, err, um, music as of late.
This is just lazy design!
As always thank you for reading! Please tell your friends, enemies or frenemies about The Ruggist.
