By Andrea Lillo
At this month’s High Point Market The Bombay Company will debut its licensed product categories with The Powell Company, which has dedicated a space in the front of its showroom in the National Furniture Mart to the Bombay brand. The companies first announced their agreement for a licensed furniture line in July, which was extended to include area rugs last month.
Wil Hollands, president of Hermes-Otto International USA, owner of the The Bombay Company, said he’s known Jim Ziozis, CEO of The Powell Company, for a long time, and “Powell was the first place I went to” when he wanted to add new categories to the Bombay brand.
The rug collection will include more than 60 designs, in an array of styles, including geometric, classic, contemporary and transitional looks. Each rug will be handtufted from materials ranging from New Zealand wool blended with silk highlights to mod-polyester with stain-resistant polypropylene. Targeting specialty and department stores, mass and home improvement centers, the rugs will be available at three price points, ranging from $79 to $499.
“Rugs are the jewelry that completes a room,” Hollands said, and “for furniture, especially wood furniture, rugs are the fashion accessory.” For furniture stores, having complementary furniture and rug collections also helps create in-store vignettes for customers, he said.
Powell will have a ribbon cutting for the Bombay section at its National Furniture Mart showroom on Oct. 13, 2012, at 10:30 a.m. “It will be a pretty impressive launch,” Hollands said. “They are phenomenal partners.”