Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Interior Design Show Toronto IDS11


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Elte Booth IDS11

Last Friday, I attended the Interior Design Show in Toronto (IDS11). I enjoyed seeing all the bright colours in this year’s exhibits as I wandered to the booths that caught my eye. I liked seeing all the different bathroom choices with their luxurious bathtubs, the huge built-in refrigerators, the hammered copper kitchen sinks, and the new patterned tin ceiling tiles.

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Elte Rugs IDS11
As I was making my way through the exhibits, I wanted to make sure to leave lots of time for the Elte booth. The Elte booth at IDS11 featured their latest line of contemporary rugs, called Second Life rugs. These are handmade rugs, primarily from Persia, that were shorn and dyed in beautiful colours. Some of them are patchwork. They are all of the finest quality wool. I turned them over to find their exquisite hand knotting generally seen only in the best of oriental rugs.

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Elte Rugs IDS11
Elte is a family owned furniture and rug company in Toronto. Their name is synonymous with excellent quality and good customer service. I learned this first hand a few years ago by ordering a custom-made rug from them, a corner of which is pictured below. My custom-made rug was beautifully fashioned exactly to the agreed specifications including a border reminiscent of an ancient design. It is a cherished treasure my family and I will continue to enjoy for many years. Elte supplies many different types of rugs including broadloom, antique and hide rugs.

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10 comments:

  1. Beautiful colors on those rugs. Just the right touch to add color to any room

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  2. Juliane! Would that be a guilloche pattern? :)

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  3. Yes Hannah, that is it exactly. It is a guilloche pattern.
    Kind regards,
    Juliane :)

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  4. Thank you for you comment, Color Specialist. Every one of those rugs had its own unique colour and design,
    Kind regards,
    Juliane

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  5. Andrew Metrick from Elte here. If you look at your first photo, I'm the gentleman in the grey suit and my father is in the navy jacket. He's the third generation in the family business, which makes my brother and I the fourth. I just wanted to thank you for all your kind words about our store, our products and our service. It truly means the world to me. As you mentioned, we're a family business. Every Second Life rug you saw at our booth or in our showroom was actually hand-selected by my brother Jamie. We're so thrilled that you liked what you saw this year. It was a great show and there were so many amazing people that we had the pleasure of meeting.

    Once again, thank you for all of your kind words and hope to see you at Elte or Ginger's sometime soon.

    All the best,

    Andrew.

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  6. Thank you for your kind message Andrew. I was at the IDS11 on trade day and had a chance to speak with your brother Jamie.

    I'm glad that you and your father are in the first photo. It just adds so much more meaning. Your rugs make this blog post extra special. They say it all.

    Elte and Ginger's are both very special and I will certainly visit them again very soon.

    Kind regards,
    Juliane

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  7. Hi Juliane,
    I loved that you shared your experience of the show. I am impressed by the fact that the company (Elte) is a family business, and not only the rungs hand selected by jaime, but given the personal touch in this note by Andrew!
    Warmly,
    Philip

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  8. I don't get impressed easily, but I sure was with both this posting and the commentary by Andrew. Elte represents what most of us think has gone by the wayside: family businesses that create marvelous, quality goods with unmatched style. Their website blew me away.... and that doesn't happen usually.

    Kudos to Elte and to Juliane for bringing us this fantastic post. I hope the Metrick family continues for generations to come!

    Best,
    Scott

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  9. Philip,
    Yes, it is impressive that the rugs are hand-selected. There is a sense of warmth and commitment at Elte and Ginger's that comes from it being a family business.
    Kind regards,
    Juliane

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  10. Scott,
    Thank you for you kind words. I enjoyed writing this post. Elte's tradition for being passionate about offering top quality has been consistent for the past 90 years.
    Kind regards,
    Juliane

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I'd love to hear your comments