Ausen Design Center For Furniture
Babei’s BellaBello New china Brand
Hospitality Goes Through the Roof at richloom
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Hunter Zhang
Yak Wang
Glenda Spangler
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Vol. 22, No. 1
The Global Home & Contract Furnishings Newspaper • www.fabricsandfurnishings.com
Winter 2011/2012
Euroart Beijing Delivers High End Western Fabric Brands To Hungry, Rich, Chinese Designers, Clients JAB, Kobe Success in China Market Attracts Many More Players into Growing Business by Eric Schneider
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HANGHAI, PRC — After 12 years in business, Euroart Beijing Company owner Ricky Lu is looking at a $20 million business as he leads China into higher end American and European fabrics with no let-up in demand for his imported residential lines. While Lu is one of the leading wholesalers of high end fabrics in China today, he is getting plenty of company from the likes of JAB, Harmontex, Yada and Morphrow and others, Morphrow specializes
in bringing supplier lines to China instead of editor lines. Harmontex, a major wholesaler of contract lines in China nas just entered the residential picture. Babei has opened its first BellaBello showroom in Hangzhou with others to follow. “We’re just at the beginning stages of Chinese fabric culture,” Lu said. “The customer needs to learn more about decorating. For example, the Chinese customer thinks that curtains should be soft while in Europe, curtains can be
heavy and stiff “Euroart deals only with residential fabrics and not contract because contract is a copy area. We don’t want to see our suppliers’ fabrics copied in China!” Lu explains that his focus on residential brings profit. He sells through books. In addition to his imported lines, he intends to launch his own lifestyle collection including furniture and lamps to the Chinese market in 2012. He says that wellheeled Chinese consumers and
CryptonHome, Residential Crypton App, Gains Major Residential Furniture Sales
designers want the real stuff made in the West and not the Chinese knock-offs. His customers often are well educated, urban bound women and their designers. He emphasizes his name brands like Catala which are sold to the furniture manufacturer in China. Imported Euroart lines now include Kravet (USA), Romo (UK), Andrew Martin (UK), Kobe Ricky Lu (Holland), Alhambra, Liso, Pepe Penalver and Catala of Spain; He also offers floral designs from Algemene (Belgium), Imatex Covington Fabric & Design (USA) (Italy) and Penelope of Turkey. which are (Continued on page 8)
Ragolle Adds Contract Line
Sipco News Network
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Randy and Craig Rubin
EST BLOOMFIELD, Michigan — Crypton, an 18 year old contract fabric phenomenon has finally cracked the residential code for residential fabric sales with CryptonHome. “The new residential program racked up ten furniture manufacturer participants this year as soon as it hit the market,” said Randy Rubin, co-founder of Crypton with her husband Craig. Crypton has partnered with American Leather, Century, Comfort Designs, Frontgate, Gloster, Hancock & Moore, Henredon, Jessica Charles, Kolcraft, Lazar, Rowe, Taylor King, Thayer Coggin, and Woodard. These higher end manufacturers are offering CryptonHome in the middle price ranges of their lines. All CryptonHome products are made in the USA, using environmentally friendly processes. At the same time, CryptonHome has struck pay dirt with Hollander, a major bedding manufacturer (Continued on page 11)
See story inside on page 31 Roseline Ragolle, president of Ragolle, Guy Parmentier, export manager Add Contract