AmericasMart Atlanta will host the Atlanta International Area Rug Market, July 13-16. This summer showcase provides more than 140 exhibitors with the chance to display their latest area rug collections and accessories, and gives buyers a chance to see what’s going to be arriving in showrooms.

Retailers attending the market also have the opportunity to “Cover New Ground” with an AmericasMart Atlanta program designed to enhance their market experience through an array of Area Rug Center special events and festivities. These include market breakfasts, buffets, cocktails, and champagne receptions for buyers to mingle and collect valuable business information. The 2003 Rug Retailer of the Year Awards, scheduled from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on July 14, will feature a gala awards reception and casino-themed activities. To obtain a complete listing of events, telephone (800) ATL-MART or visit www.AmericasMart.com on the Internet.

The following are just a handful of the many collections that will take the spotlight at AmericasMart.

Balta will add the color black to its Luxus Collection, which is made from 100 percent heat-set olefin. This million-point collection encompasses 10 designs intended to exemplify traditional elegance. Each rug is made with luxury in mind and is incredibly soft to the touch, according to Balta. Using burgundies, ivories and silver, Luxus is meant to offer the look of wool at olefin price points.

Carpet Art Deco will introduce its Heritage Collection of fine-styled area rugs. The rugs in this collection are available in 2'2"-by-3'11", 2'2"-by-7'7", 3'11"-by-5'7", 5'3"-by-7'7" and 7'11"-by-10'8" sizes.

Central Oriental will unveil its Modigliani and Verdi collections at this market. Both carry the Wools of New Zealand brand and are machine woven without fringe. Modigliani features a sleek, modern look with drop-stitch accents for added textural interest. Verdi offers traditional and contemporary patterns in a sophisticated color palette. Both collections come in a variety of sizes, with some styles in Verdi also available in 27-inch rolls.

Couristan will showcase the Everest Collection, a line of power-loomed rugs from Belgium that use advanced heat-set polypropylene technology. The collection offers a super-dense weave and a soft, luxurious finish. Power-loomed of a premium 1250 D-Tex yarn, the collection’s thick pile features 1 million points per square meter. The Everest Collection is available in four designs styled from traditional patterns and colorations, in the following unfringed sizes: 2' by 3'11", 3'11" by 5'3", 5'3" by 7'6", 7'10" by 11'2", and 9'10" by 13'2". Also available are a 2'7"-by-7'10" runner, 3'11", 5'3" and 7'10" round/square/octagon formats, and a 26-inch roll runner.

828 International will add more styles to its Cabana Joe’s Maui Collection, the company’s first licensed collection. The Maui Collection was designed with Joe O’Brien, better known as Cabana Joe, a renowned designer with studios in Maui and Los Angeles. New patterns in the collection include two floral designs, #CJM-03 and #CJM-11. Each is hand-hooked using the finest wool and crafted in soft, cut-and-loop textures, the company says. The collection is available in a range of sizes.

Feizy will debut its Rutherford Collection of hand-tufted rugs featuring traditional floral Persian designs executed in a palette of wool and art silk. The suggested retail price for a 5'-by-8' rug is $690. The Malibu Collection, another hand-tufted collection from Feizy, offers rugs in contemporary style with a tone-on-tone palette. The collection’s natural wool coloration is intended to resemble the luxury of contemporary Tibetan designs. Suggested retail for a 5'-by-8' rug is $250.

Kalaty Rug Corp., a Wools of New Zealand partner, will showcase a new retail display at the July market that takes up only 21/2 square feet of space. The rack system holds 25 18-by-24-inch corner samples, and comes with a binder catalogue that contains full, four-color images of each pattern. The workable samples are intended to be easy to mix and match as a means of showing a variety of possibilities to buyers who are contemplating multiple rug purchases.

Karastan’s new Veranda Collection is a woven series that includes the Mariposa and Villa styles. Mariposa features large-scale floral fields in two color offerings -- a Mediterranean blue coupled with a neutral palette of weathered ochre, sandstone, ivory and cypress green; and an ivory patterned only in neutrals. Villa offers a damask-like field of ivory framed in rich colors and decorations. The collection carries the Wools of New Zealand brand and comes in the following sizes: 2'7" by 4'11", 3'11" by 5'6", 5'2" by 7'10", 7'10" by 11'1", a 2'7"-by-9'10" runner, as well as 5'2" and 7'10" rounds.

Oriental Weavers Sphinx Division will debut various new handmade introductions, including the Coronation and the Tara Collections. The Coronation Collection features ornate Savonnerie and Aubusson designs in hand-tufted, -sheared, -carved, and -finished rugs. Hand washing gives the wool a subtle sheen. The Tara Collection offers delicately shaded florals. Hand-tufted, -carved, -serged, and -finished, the collection is made of 100 percent wool. Both collections are available in 2'6"-by-10', 3'6"-by-5'6", 5'6"-by-8'6", and 8'-by-11' sizes.

Radici USA, maker of Italian rugs and carpets, will introduce a new series of classic favorites with Moghul. These Wools of New Zealand-branded rugs are made from a blend of space-dyed and carded-wool yarns in a mix of Heriz, Oushak and Bakhtiari designs. The collection is composed of four fringeless patterns, each offered in colorways of black, red and ivory with accents of charcoal gray, vineyard olive, brassy gold, and Oxford blue. Sizes available include 3'3" by 4'11", 5'5" by 7'11", 7'9" by 11'2" and 2'2" by 7'7".