The Kitchen Inspiration Gallery included five high-style, inspirational kitchen vignettes featuring Kitchen & Housewares as well as Living & Entertaining: Gifts, Tabletop & Accessories products from a variety of exhibitors. Located in Building 2, near AmericasMart’s state-of-the-art Demonstration Kitchen, buyers could see a variety of styles: casual family, formal elegance, traditional European, modern oasis and metropolitan wet bar.

The vignettes supported AmericasMart’s position as a leader in the Gourmet & Housewares segment with more than 400 of the top lines, representing  the industry’s best. As consumer demand grows, the nation’s premier global market continues to entice premium brands to be part of the product center.

Vignettes were sponsored by Founders Kitchen & Bath, Blanco, Cowan Plumbing Supply, Delta, DuPont Corian, Cosentino Silestone, Dacor Appliances and Top South Countertops. 

We saw so many amazing visual displays in the showrooms during the January 2012 Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market! Each showroom has a different feel, and you could sense the amount of passion behind the creation of each one. The ambience of each showroom starts with visual display. That’s why it’s important to recognize the use of creativity, space, product placement, signage, flooring and lighting with AmericasMart’s Visual Display Awards (VDAs). This year’s winners blew us away with their fantastic displays!

The VDA winners were selected by an independent panel of design and display experts with decades of combined industry experience. Find out who won and see some of the award-winning displays from the 2012 January Market. What was the spectacular Best of Show booth? Drumroll please…

We know from experience in the loss prevention field that there are many reasons that employees steal.  Greed, want and need are all reasons. We as employers can do little to effect these reasons. The best we can do is screen out potential problems such as candidates with  criminal histories; candidates that have a poor credit history who may be handling our money; and drug abusers top the list.

But what are the CAUSES of employee theft? In the 2010 Global Fraud Study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the leading primary internal control weakness is…”Lack of Internal Controls”. In organizations with less than 100 employees it amounts to 47% (for those with over 100 employees, the percentage is 33.7). There is not even a close second.

Keep in mind that this cause is something that we as business leaders have complete control over. Yet businesses appear to do little – or clearly not enough – to protect the fragile margins we have. I believe that there are two reasons for this.

Number one is that it seems, in many cases, that there is a lack of strong leadership. The kind of leadership that people understand and respect. An understanding by employees at all levels that the company has strong controls in place which will not, under any circumstances, be violated. The violation of these procedures will be met with strict and immediate punishment at all levels. This draws a line in the sand.

Number two is that even when that line in the sand is drawn we find it too hard or we are too busy to maintain it. Because of this, that line in the sand is quickly washed away by the waves. We then find ourselves a year later scratching our heads trying to make sense of why another serious employee theft or series of employee theft incidents have occurred. It is imperative for the sake of your business that you set procedures in place and maintain them constantly.

Want to get employee theft under control once and for all? Make your line in the sand a granite wall with no compromise that the waves will not affect.

To learn more please stop by our Employee Theft seminar on Thursday, January 12 at 10:30 a.m. in Building 1, Floor 10, and Seminar Room #1002

With events on multiple floors, special guests in showrooms and the overall excitement, the mood continues to be upbeat. People are busy but productive, getting a lot accomplished while having some fun too.

Opening day for Temps at the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market is always exciting, driving extra traffic throughout campus. All the new Temp collections - Birding & Backyard Nature, Global Designs, Handmade Designs/Handmade Jewelry and HD Home – were filled with buyers exploring the floors, searching for new products.

Permanents and Temps open at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning. Create a plan to check out all the floors; there are Temps in each building on campus and lots of new and expanded permanent showrooms.

The newest destination for the best in high-end home furnishings and accessories debuted on Thursday at AmericasMart Atlanta. HD Home invited the the most dynamic, sought-after manufacturers in the industry to be part of this exciting juried temporary collection. Make it a premier destination during your time at Market – you’ll be glad you did!

HD Home Collection is in the Center Hall on Floor 1 of Building 1. It’s open January 14-17 from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and January 18 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Registration lobbies are still full at peak hours, but we’re open extended hours to help – until 10 p.m.tonight and open again at 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

All seminars, events and AmericasMart University classes were on schedule with a full line-up again tomorrow. Virginia Willis cooked and tried to explain what it means to “be Southern;” class attendees learned Brand Building through social networking strategies; Gerry Klaskala put a modern take on vegetarianism in the demonstration kitchen; six lucky buyers won a Kindle; plus people sipped, snacked and shopped throughout the campus.

Now that’s a full day!

Much more to come in the days ahead…stay tuned!

And so, you may ask, why should anyone care? Actually, the decorative application of handmade rugs does matter. For one thing, they represent one third of the usable space and are the first element that catches your eye upon entering the room. Secondly, aside from furniture, they outlive any other furnishing in the home—including window treatments, wall paint and coverings, and upholstery. Their resilience to wear-and-tear and virtually all forms of human abuse is second to none in essence guaranteeing that they can not only move with you from house to house but also be passed down from one generation to the next. Hence they are the most-effective investment furnishing investment in the home. Last but not least, they are the greenest of floor coverings being produced with renewable organic materials such as cotton and wool, and free of from adhesives and petroleum-based products, present in most machinemade carpeting products that produce off-gassing. Still, despite these attributes, handmade rugs have been treated as the orphans of the decorative trade.

When editor of The Oriental Rug Magazine and later consulting editor on AREA Magazine, I sought to redress the image of handmade rugs as important elements in the décor with an ongoing article series featuring  the country’s most prestigious designers’ use of rugs in their work. I knew I was onto something when they all responded with unquestionable enthusiasm. “Finally! It’s about time to publish articles on how rugs are actually used in interior design!” they exclaimed. When helping my clients buy rugs, I always was a bit at a loss when trying to recommend books helping them identify rugs they would like to buy.  Most found rug books too intimidating. Some sent me photocopies of illustrations of rare collector’s items that they wanted in oversizes. Not surprisingly, they were frustrated when I told them these did not exist in the market only in the hands of a few collectors and museums. Other clients, desperate for a visual guide, created their own “look book” with ads and images of rugs in rooms torn out of magazines.

And so, buoyed by the encouragement of my clients and featured interior designers, I took on the project of The Decorative Carpet—Fine Handmade Rugs in Contemporary Interiors, a monumental but very rewarding task. I was lucky to find Monacelli Press/Random House who believed in the project. My 32 featured celebrity designers—including Samuel Botero, Clodagh, Jamie Drake, David Easton, and   Bunny Williams—were overwhelmingly as enthusiastic as I about giving decorative handmade rugs at long last their deserved place in the interior design world. Today, handmade decorative rugs are orphans no more.

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Learn more from Alix at her presentation on Friday, January 14 during Market at 2 p.m. Here she’ll discuss “The Decorative Carpet in Interior Design.” Plus, stay around and purchase a book for her to sign. Find her in Building 1, Floor 4, 4-G-7

Being that I have spent some serious time there both shopping for fun and shopping for work I have some tips for making the most out of your AmericasMart experience.

1. You MUST wear comfortable shoes. It is not an option, it is a necessity. You will walk forever and you need to be comfortable (or you could just buy cute flats somewhere in Building 3.)

2. Get a map/directory and hold on to it! If you are coming for the first time you might get disoriented but a campus map and the directory will get you where you need to go.

3. Bring business cards. As a designer this should be automatic, but it is the easiest way to hook up with showrooms. Give an associate your business card and ask them to send you whatever you need to set up an account/line list/etc. This way you don’t leave with 5,000 brochures, unless you’re into that.

4. It also doesn’t hurt to keep a copy of your Tax ID and Business License in your bag. I carry mine around and I pull it out more then you could imagine.

5. Bring a small notebook that can fit in your bag. You will need it.

6. Have your camera ready and charged. Of course always ask if you are allowed to take pictures, but I find that snapping a photo of what it is I like and then jotting down where it is from, is the best way to keep track of what I see. There are so many showrooms and options that if you like a piece, snap a photo, get the info, then send that photo to your showroom rep and chances are they can hook you up with the rest of the line.

7. Utilize the Coat Checks! You will have your hands full, you will have a bag, maybe a cart as well, they will get full and cumbersome. There are coat checks located in each building near the lobby or registration area, ditch your coat, it’s one less thing to struggle with.

8. Market Wednesdays are awesome. If you can’t make it to Market or if the idea of fighting ATL traffic downtown on a busy Market Week isn’t appealing, hit up Market Wednesday. They are typically every other month (check www.americasmart.com for exact dates) and most showrooms are open specifically on those dates. Sometimes showrooms are open every day, some are only open during Market, etc. But most vendors make and effort to be open for Market Wednesdays.

9. Coffee. If you need coffee like I need coffee (or water and sustenance in general) you can find it in every building! Specifically: Building 1, floors: 2, 4, 7, 10, 14, 15, 16, 19. Building 2, floors: 8, 10, 12. Building 3, floors: 1, 2, 5, 6.

10. Strategy: I like to work from the top down and walk the loop in each building. It helps to have an idea of where you want to go and what you are looking for in advance, that way you make the most of your time. If you aren’t up for chatting with vendors or showroom staff and just want to get through as much as possible, I like taking my directory and noting each showroom that looks appealing and then contacting them for information later. That way I can see as much as possible and still get the information I need when the time comes.

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If you don’t see Niki on the Home floors, you can find her at the “Blogging, Business and Bites” panel on Saturday, January 15. She, along with three other blogging peers, will give insider tips on how blogging can build your business. It all starts at 4 p.m. in Building 1, floor 14, 14-D-9.

This is a “can’t miss” event if you are interested in learning how you can better use AmericasMart as an interior design resource. First, hear Stan’s tips, strategies, design solutions and inspirations. Then, he will take you on a guided tour throughout the Home floors and showrooms where he will point out some of the best designer showrooms, products and lines. You are sure to leave this event with a better understanding of the reasons why many interior designers, including the legendary Stan Topol, consider AmericasMart one of the most valuable resources in the Nation.

Friday, January 14, 2011
2:30 p.m.
All About Home: Talk and Walk with Stan Topol
Building 1, Floor 14, Seminar Room 14-D-9

R.S.V.P. Please e-mail tturberville@americasmart.com by Monday, January 3, 2011.

In spite of the fact that VERANDA began as a privately-held magazine competing against large publishing houses, it was successful. I believe this was due in large part to the fact that it chronicled this evolutionary process by showcasing the most inspired and forward-thinking interiors.

The products that go in our homes are the elements that create provocative design. Over the last ten years I worked at the magazine, I traveled the world to trade shows and events, tracking and observing the changes taking place in design.

I love the discovery process and it has inspired me to create my own business. With a web site I hope to launch in the spring called Style InSite.com. I intend to share these views on design products made for the home.

In this power point presentation for the January market, I take a look at six design currents. Color, use of materials and form are among the subjects of commentary that elucidate the influences and innovations prevalent in today’s market.

I am not a psychic, but there are clearly some predictors surfacing that may have a profound effect on products for the home. Join me for a look at THE EVOLVED SPACE: NEW DIRECTIONS IN DESIGN. January 15