Ege carpets have been recently supplied and installed at the Sheikh Rashid terminal of the Dubai International Airport by Gemaco Interiors. The Dubai-based company, which the sole UAE agent for egetaepper, supplied approximately 2,000 sq m of carpets for the project.

"It all started with a small design brief," says Shiraz Rizvi, product manager (UAE) for egetaepper, the Denmark-based carpet manufacturer. "We were asked to create a bright sand-like effect on carpets. The client wanted to have an area resembling an oasis, with palm trees in the middle, and therefore, the carpet design and quality had an important role to play in the project."
Elaborating on how the client's requirements were met, Rizvi says: "The design team at egetaepper created a very special design using custom colours. Several samples were made to ensure that the client finally had the right colour and design.
"Once the client was pleased with the samples, production was planned to ensure that each roll was of a specific size and achieved a perfect pattern match. This was not easy, bearing in mind the flowing pattern and the length of the area that was required to be covered."
However, achieving the right design and colour was only one aspect of the project, he says. The other was to meet the delivery dates and programming the installation to precision.
"This was a working airport and thus the changeover had to be precise, fast and accurate,'' Rizvi continues. ''Limitation in area of operation due to continuous passenger traffic and the need to conform to airport safety and security regulations were given due consideration during installation planning, scheduling and control.
"The carpets were manufactured and delivered to site in less than three weeks from receipt of approval. The existing carpet tiles were replaced with ege broadloom 1100 polyamide quality, thus giving a continuous flowing pattern match and fewer joints/seams.
"Highline 1100 is an extra-heavy-wear quality, classified as class-4 as per EN 1307. It is permanently antistatic. A carbon thread is embedded in each carpet yarn during production, thus ensuring the carpet is antistatic for its entire lifespan.
"In heavy traffic open areas, it is important that the static electricity build-up is kept controlled/dissipated, thus making the environment more comfortable for passengers. The carpet is fire-retardant, conforming to the various EN norms and is castor wheel-rated, to ensure easy movement of luggage with castors and avoid any damage to the carpet due to continuous use of castor wheels."
"All egetaepper products have a label to certify that they have indoor climate approval following stringent Danish Indoor Climate tests which confirm that no harmful substances/chemicals were used during production and that the carpet will not discharge harmful/unhealthy fumes in the environment.
"The double-stick installation ensures that rucking does not take place in this extremely heavy traffic area. Thus, all the factors including safety, ease of maintenance and aesthetic value were taken into consideration," he explains.
Besides the Dubai International Airport, ege carpets have been installed at various other airports - Heathrow Airport (approximately 20,000 sq m), Isle of Man Airport (2,700 sq m) and Manchester Airport (3,000 sq m).
The tremendous design flexibility and the possibility of manufacturing in seven different qualities (five qualities in polyamide and two in 80 per cent wool, 20 per cent nylon) with the shortest possible manufacturing periods in the industry, gives egetaepper the required edge in the market, Rizvi points out.
Today, ege has three specialised tufting plants. Carpets are marketed through the parent company at Herning (Denmark) and ege companies in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden and ege agencies and distributors in most other European, Middle Eastern, and Far Eastern countries as well as Canada.
The 42 tufting machines, CAD/CAM systems in tufting and dyeing, Millitron and differential dyeing systems, ICN, COL, COC and Hydrashift graphics patterning systems enable ege to offer one of the most extensive ranges of tufted carpeting in the market.
Other sectors  that the company caters to are hospitality, auditoriums and cinemas, healthcare and educational establishments, offices, cruise liners, yachts and offshore units, palaces and villas.