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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, S ep te m be r 10 ,2 02 0 | 26 After moving his shop from Speers Road to Kerr Street, and then completely shuttering the family busi- ness for a time, Mark Platt is back and looking forward to the fall. JPlatt Rugs is now locat- ed in the heart of downtown Oakville on Thomas Street, with a wide selection of mod- ern handmade carpets from, among other locales, Tur- key, Morocco and India. "I went travelling in Janu- ary and I found some beauti- ful, fantastic new weavers, reconnected with my older weavers, and just got my new stock in," said Oakville native Platt. He's still waiting for more rugs to arrive, but he be- lieves his current collection is the best the store has ever offered. "I feel like my buying abil- ity, my sense of style, and the weavers, we've all come to- gether," said Platt. "I've real- ly keyed into the most beau- tiful rugs I can find." Platt's father, Joseph, launched the store in 1973 on Front Street in Toronto and was in business for 30 years before the area was devel- oped into condos and the family relocated to Oakville. Mark hand-picks pieces, searching for ingenuity and creativity around the world. "I like to look at the qual- ity of the weave, obviously. I like to look to see whether or not they finish the product properly, if they're using the best quality of wool." Sometimes he finds what he's looking for at interna- tional trade shows, other times, it's through casual meet and greets with weav- ers plying their wares in the streets, or knocking on the doors of smaller, cottage in- dustry artisans. "I like to combine the two; I like the trade shows, but I like to do some exploring," he said, recounting the time he travelled through a mountainous region of Mo- rocco to find plush, Berber carpets. "It's almost like happen- stance, sometimes a little bit of luck to find the right guys." "I don't deal with ma- chine-made pieces, I don't deal with artificial materi- als. l only deal with natural materials like wool, cotton, silk, jute." Plans to travel to Nepal and to a trade show in Vara- nasi, India this fall are on hold, due to the pandemic. Most customers usually want a neutral carpet with a bit of colour, he said. "It's been a theme for years and it's really difficult to find something like that. Now I've got some weavers who are doing some fantas- tic pieces." He's hoping customers will embrace the pieces from the smaller niche of weavers he's discovered in often re- mote corners of the world. "We're not high-pressure sales, we're easy come, easy go, and we find that people appreciate that sort of per- sonal touch that we bring to them." "Come into my shop and you'll see something you won't see elsewhere. It's all very stylish and well- priced." BUSINESS JPLATT RUGS OFFERS MODERN, HANDMADE PIECES OWNER TRAVELS FAR AND WIDE TO BOOST SELECTION Mark Platt of JPlatt Rugs specializes in handwoven rugs, like this hand-knotted wool and bamboo rug from India. Graham Paine/Torstar KATHY YANCHUS kyanchus@metroland.com JPLATT RUGS Location: 118 Thomas St. Hours of Operation: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday, (closed Monday) or by appointment. Contact: 289-300-0849 or visit https://plattrugs.com/ Never miss a deal with your shopping list on Save.ca. Selected items are sorted by store, making your day-to-day shopping experience a real money saver. Shopping locally is the best way to support our communities. And saving locally makes it even better! Find big deals close to home with save.ca. We made it easier than ever to find the deals you're looking for. Save.ca's bountiful search results let you comparison shop to get the best buy. A lot of little things can add up to big things. Itall addsup. Start saving today at: That's the thinking behind the new save.ca.