Warp & Weft, a to-the-trade carpet showroom headquartered in New York, is sponsoring Contemporary Creations: A Rug Design Competition for upper division textile/surface design program students at the Fashion Institute of Technology. The competition was developed to serve as the students' first assignment for the fall 2011 semester in their "Custom Rug and Carpet Design" class. The 24 students participating in the competition have been commissioned to create a contemporary design in an open medium with complete freedom to express their ideas on color and pattern. The winning designs will be announced at a breakfast on November 4 at the Warp & Weft Gallery at 145 Madison Ave.

Deborah Hernandez, adjunct professor and owner of The Rug Designer's Studio, Inc., teaches the class at FIT, a college of art and design, business and technology of the State University of New York (SUNY). A jury of renowned industry leaders, architects, design professionals, and FIT staff members will review the work. The jury includes: Annie Block, articles editor at Interior Design; Patti Carpenter, design consultant and president of Continuum Home Inc. and Carpenter + Company; Mary Foley and Michael Cox, founding principals at Foley & Cox Interiors; Carol Litt, FIT professor of Textile/Surface Design; Michael Mandapati, Founder of Warp & Weft; David Mann, founding partner at MR Architecture; Rena Sussman Silverman, FIT adjunct associate professor of Textile/Surface Design and principal of Rena Sussman Designs; and Bob Zaccaria founder of Zaccaria Associates.

The first and second place winners will receive $500 and three runners-up will receive $250 each. The top design will be produced into a 6-by-9-foot hand-woven rug made with Warp & Weft signature 100 knots. It will also be showcased in the Warp & Weft booth at International Contemporary Furniture Fair 2012.

"We are so pleased to be able to offer a chance for these students to exhibit their work to a panel of industry leaders," says Michael Mandapati, founder and creative director of Warp & Weft. "We are wholly committed to supporting young designers, and soon-to-be designers, and this competition is the perfect medium to do this. FIT is a premier institution for design education, and we are certain their students are up to the task." Mandapati opened Warp & Weft as in 2001 as a gallery purveying exceptional antique oriental carpets. The handwoven rugs in its collection are made from the purest Himalayan wool and Indian mulberry silk and are hand-woven in Nepal. All of the companys modern rugs are GoodWeave certified, which ensures that no child labor was used in manufacturing.

For more information on Warp & Weft, visit www.warpandweft.com. For more on FIT, visit www.fitnyc.edu.