MOSCOW, Russia--Karim Rashid, the charismatic international designer has teamed up with Flandria, an important high end Russian wholesaler and converter to produce a diverse collection of 20 designs in six color ways, a total of 120 sku's.

The 'Globalove' collection by the flamboyant and well known Rashid is initially being sold to Russian furniture manufacturers but Flandria aims to make its mark with global wholesalers, retailers and other home furnishings manufacturers according to Maria Filatova, general manager. "Business is up 15 percent for us."

"The initial response to 'Globalove' was positive because Russian furniture makers did not want to pass up the bright colors that came alive through Rashid's unique handwriting," she said. "The market is ready for something new and special. The customer bought the collection immediately, saying it was weird, but they wanted it anyway."

"'Globalove' is priced from $15-25 to the wholesaler. It will be available with a large range of plains, selected from the 300 provided by Bru Textiles of Kontich, Belgium. Bru is also providing some small designs to coordinate with the collection. Three Printed velvets from Depoortere are also in the collection along with embossed velvets from Microfibers and cut/uncut velvets finished in Italy from Bruvatex, she explained.

All of the designs and colors were styled by Rashid. Artificial printed leather from Arti; jacquards from Adoksan and tapestries from Seba, all Turkish mills, complete the collection.

Flandria expects to show the new collection at its stand at Heimtextil 2013. Another licensed collection by Zagato of Italy is also in the wings for Flandria in 2013.