Kea Capel starts design firm, links with Homemaker
By Lissa Wyman -- Furniture Today, April 1, 2003
Pinehurst, N.C. — Kea Capel has resigned as director of creative marketing for rug resource Capel and has launched a design consulting company, Kea Capel Inc.
The new company and Homemaker Inds. have forged a strategic alliance in which Kea Capel will create fashion-oriented rugs for Homemaker, which markets braided products and other constructions primarily in mass-market distribution channels.
The initial products and prototypes are being shown at the March 31–April 4 New York Home Textiles Show at the Homemaker's showroom at 295 Fifth Ave.
Capel said her new company will have a two-pronged approach to the rug market.
"First, I am working with the Homemaker team to help develop and broaden the company's product and marketing base," she said.
"The second component of the business will be a signature line of rugs geared to traditional furniture stores and design-oriented retailers," Capel said. "They will be marketed under the Kea Capel name or on a private-label basis."
The Kea Capel Inc. line will be manufactured at Homemaker facilities in Mexico as well as in China and India.
Capel said she is exploring the possibility of opening a showroom in High Point. "We also hope to open a separate Kea Capel Inc. showroom in New York," she said.
Michael Kelly, president and chief operating officer of Homemaker, said, "We have engaged Kea Capel Inc. to add new looks and new product categories to our line of braided rugs. While Homemaker has an excellent in-house product development team, our primary focus and area of expertise traditionally has been value-priced and mid-tier product lines."
Homemaker has had some recent success with higher-end braid and hybrid products such as braided rugs with a wool hooked center, Kelly said, and Kea Capel Inc.'s challenge is to develop the right looks for higher-end markets.
"Kea Capel's designs will round out our product line and allow us to bring to market rugs made of 100% wool, chenille and other premium materials, at a very competitive price, " he said.
Capel, who is a third-generation member of the family which founded Capel Inc. in the early 1900s, stressed that she is not in business to compete directly with Capel.
"No one can make a braided rug like Capel can," she said, "I want to develop fresh looks and constructions that offer great value to the American consumer."
Capel said that Homemaker's Mexican manufacturing facilities offer broad opportunities for new product development. "This is one of the best manufacturing facilities in the world," she said.
While some of Capel's designs were ready in time for the spring New York home textiles show, most of them will reach the market later in the year and in 2004.
Capel said that, for the most part, the rugs under development will retail in the $199 to $249 range in a 6 by 9 size, and feature the following characteristics:
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Cotton tape braids in very bright, energetic colors in various traditional and non-traditional shapes.
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Wool braids in rich traditional colors that mix solid and space-dyed yarns.
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Thick cotton/polypropylene rope braids in bright colors that create a basketweave look.
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Braids made of super-heavy "caterpillar chenille" combined with fabric.
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All-fabric braids using small figured prints in a variety of shapes. Several of these rugs will re-create classic American print patterns.
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Promotionally oriented indoor-outdoor rugs and door mats.
"I'm even working on a rug that looks like a garden hose," Capel said. "It's bright, outrageous and lots of fun. It will be geared to affordable price points and will be something completely different for that market."
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