For 80 years, the Couristan name has been synonymous with the most exquisite handmade and power-loomed floorcoverings available from anywhere in the world. Established by brothers Basil J. Couri and George J. Couri in 1926, the company began its humble beginnings by importing fine handmade area rugs from Persia. Still owned and operated by the Couri family, Couristan has grown to import and manufacture both handmade and power-loomed area rugs, as well as residential broadloom and is recognized as the pre-eminent designer and supplier of exquisite custom contract carpeting for the hospitality industry.

As the undisputed market leader for the hospitality industry, the company’s, "Hospitality Concepts" Contract Custom Carpeting Division is firmly committed to progress and development in terms of product, manufacturing systems and customer care. Couristan is one of the very few floorcovering manufacturers anywhere in the world with the ability, experience, financial standing and resources necessary to address projects of the greatest prestige, complexity and size. The division operates from two centers of excellence in St. Helens, England and Weihai City in Shandong Province of China's East Coast, design and manufacturing are carried out to exacting Quality Assurance Standards, Couristan’s environmental credentials include ISO 1400 Environmental Standards " accreditation. In addition, fully staffed showrooms and design studios, as well as warehousing in excess of 155,000 square feet are strategically located across the United States and are networked to the company’s global headquarters and showroom in Fort Lee, New Jersey. A global network of affiliated companies provide local service to customers in the Middle East, Pacific Rim, Europe and the Americas.

In addition, the division's experienced and dedicated sales force, well-versed in the technical aspects, as well as the aesthetic and performance values of carpeting, is supported by an established network of skilled designers, technical experts and quality assurance teams. Working together from estimating to design to post-project support, the division's teams of carpet experts provide clients with the most complete project management and planning services in the hospital industry.

Supporting a continuous investment program, the company’s "Hospitality Concepts" Contract Custom Carpeting Division operates at the leading edge of technology in design and manufacture, utilizing some of the industry’s most advanced systems and production equipment to create exquisite designs used in high profile locations worldwide. As illustrated the division has grown significantly since its inception with the capability of producing:

The ultimate aesthetic and practical success of large scale, complex floor covering designs has traditionally been hampered by the need for separate infill, outfill and border areas and the difficulties these present during installation.

Couristan's innovative Omni Weave Technology overcomes these limitations to provide the perfect planning solution. By combining our established creative and technical expertise at the outset of a project and employing advanced Electronic Jacquard Technology to produce entire designs in "woven to plan" full-length rolls, we are able to engineer carpets with no limitations to complexity of design.

The design repeat can be virtually any length, creating an ever increasing variety of designs, which require only limited selvedge seaming. Initial design concepts and working drawings are assessed by our design and planning teams to create detailed technical drawings, illustrating how the design fits together as a practical reality and where each full-roll element should be installed.

While Couristan will never compromise on quality standards, we pride ourself at creating solutions that meet any specific conditions imposed by a client's application. To ensure that the finished carpet will withstand the heavy wear demands of each installation, it is crucial that the raw materials used are of the highest quality. The company's global network allows us to search the world for raw materials that meet our exacting standards, with pre-selected samples subjected to rigorous laboratory testing.

Our parallel investment in color science research and technology for wools, nylons and dye materials has resulted in an understanding of dye spectrography, which allows us to create a color match for any sample that we are supplied with and, perhaps more importantly, to supply that same color at any time in the future. In addition, we can also reproduce the colors used in an artist's original design and guarantee a level of consistency for color across thousands of square yards of carpet.

When the required quantities of yarn have been dyed and the Electronic Jacquard Looms have been set up, the first square yards are woven and checked against the hand sample for design and color placement. Only then when a sample from the first square yards has been approved does full-scale weaving commence.

Throughout the weaving process, Couristan quality assurance teams check the carpet for quality, design and color placement. It takes many years of experience to identify the tiny imperfections that are an inevitable part of the weaving process and just as much experience for our skilled artisans to rectify these flaws by hand. Final quality inspection on the finishing tables ensures consistent pattern match from roll to roll. Detailed computer records of the carpet's design, together with samples of the colors and materials used in its creation, are then archived in the Couristan Hospitality Concepts Design Library for reference, so that it may be reproduced at any time. "

ADVANTAGES OF AXMINSTER CARPET Carrying on the rich tradition of quality carpet weaving craftsmanship, Couristan's Custom Contract Carpeting Division offers the most versatile and flexible Custom Axminster Program in the industry. Named after a type of hand-weave that originated during the latter part of the 18th century in the old English Town of Axminster, woven Axminster carpets offer designers, architects and end-users with substantial advantages in aesthetics, performance and value compared to any other available flooring surface on the market.

Woven on looms that offer a unique flexibility in colors and design, each piece of pile yarn in an Axminster carpet is individually woven into place. This integral construction process allows even the most complex and intricate designs to be created with pin-point precision and high-definition. All carpets are comprised of a pile material and a backing. The superior difference of woven Axminster to tufted construction is in the weaving process. On Axminster looms the pile and backing materials are woven together in a single operation. This eliminates the problem of delamination, and accompanying bubbles, ripples, and potential premature product failure which may occur in heavy traffic areas with tufted carpet. The interweaving of the pile and backing results in each face yarn of the carpet being locked into place with the pattern woven all the way through the carpet. This unique construction process provides Axminster carpets with superior durability and appearance retention, purposely designed to withstand the wear and tear that is often associated with high traffic areas.

The benefits of woven Axminster carpet go beyond its superior construction. The prestige of woven broadloom on the floor of any room adds a sense of luxury and sophistication. Whether your requirement is a very large commercial installation or a small residential area, Couristan's Custom Axminster Program can turn our clients' most creative concepts into beautiful and practical realities.

Couristan's Axminster quality carpeting is woven of 80% Virgin wool/20% Anti-static nylon for long-lasting beauty and additional strength in heavy traffic areas. The two ply yarns are skein dyed for vivid colors that make the carpet design come alive. As the ultimate choice of specifiers for prestige and complex hospitality installations, wool-rich Axminster carpets provide substantial advantages in aesthetics, durability, appearance retention and overall value than any other flooring surface on the market. As a result of its natural resilience, wool-rich Axminster carpets provide added benefits such as long-term appearance retention, excellent recovery from compression characteristics and contribute to air purity by absorbing harmful pollutants such as Nitrogen Dioxide and Sulphur Dioxide. Wool-rich Axminster carpets can even assist in stabilizing the thermal properties of spaces by absorbing and/or releasing moisture during periods of high and low humidity. The superior performance characteristics of wool-rich Axminster carpets make it ideal for interiors ranging from the most luxurious, in prestige hotels and resorts, to the most practical, in public buildings, corporate headquarters and transport facilities.

As an alternative to wool-rich Axminster carpet, Couristan also offers the option of other pile yarn,including 100% nylon. Using state-of-the-art Electronic Jacquard Axminster Looms, we are able to produce our clients' most complex and creative designs, as well as large-scaled patterns, with the use of up to twelve colors and in a choice of any width between 27 inches and 15 feet. With such manufacturing flexibility and versatility each custom carpet produced from our Custom Axminster Program is distinctive and truly an expression of our clients' own creativity.