Jaipur Rugs: Hand-knotted Weaves from the Pink City.

Jaipur Rugs was imagined in 1978 by a young and enthusiastic Nand Kishore Chaudhary in Churu, Rajasthan. For over four decades, this loom-to-home business has treasured people, their craft, and the environment; and prides itself on effortlessly blending strong values with extraordinary rugs while using eco-friendly dyes and occasionally, recycled yarn.

Jaipur Rugs is a business with a heart that crafts woven art to uplift and empower an entire community of artisans.

Artisans chatting in their leisurely hours — Artisans at leisure

Chronicles of NK Chaudhary

Filled with passion, when Nand Kishoreji took a loan from his father in 1978 to buy a bicycle and set up nine artisans in Churu, he was driven by the principles of dignity, empathy and respect. His budding enterprise connected directly with tribal and women artisans to reinterpret the timeless craft of hand-knotting rugs. Kindness always accompanied Nand Kishoreji’s strong business acumen, he uplifted women, artists and the needy on his journey to creating a social enterprise that made him the “Gandhi of the Carpet Industry”.

“Let goodness, fairness and most importantly, love prevail in business; profits will inevitably follow.”
— Nand Kishore Chaudhary

Mr Nand Kishore Chaudhary with weavers of Jaipur Rugs

Today you can find Nand Kishoreji actively posting about all things purpose, leadership and social entrepreneurship on LinkedIn, inevitably with a touch of wisdom.

Reinterpreting Persian Weaves

India in the 16th Century was becoming the biggest global economy and manufacturing power, with a nominal GDP that was valued at a quarter of the world GDP, superior to that of Europe. This was the early modern period when the Mughal Empire led the Indian subcontinent and many Persian art forms were shared with locals, one of them being the craft of carpet weaving. Artisans of Jaipur adopted Persian weaving techniques and over time reinterpreted them with their own touch of creativity, birthing a unique style of rug weaving. This is the timeless craft used to hand-knot classic yet contemporary masterpieces at Jaipur Rugs.

Artisans with their WIP piece of art. — Artisans with their WIP piece of woven art.

Meticulously intertwined in a gazillion tiny knots, the back of every Jaipur Rug tells a story of countless hours spent crafting one precious piece.

Jaipur Rugs Infographic of the first five steps before meticulous weaving begins — The first five steps before weaving begins.

Each rug takes about a year to hand knot with painstaking attention to detail and hours of fine-tuning the final design. Once woven, each carpet is washed with water and a mild solution that cleanses and strengthens each knot. The last step of this methodical process is “Gultarash” a technique that gives a high-low texture to the rug and literally translates to “finding the flower.”

Artisans holding the final product of their lcreative abour - a precious rug. — Artisans holding the final product of their creative labour.

“The more knots you see fitting in a square inch, the longer it took for the artisan to weave the rug, the more precious the rug.”

Genius of a Grassroots Network

Crafted by 50,000+ artisans, Jaipur Rugs’ artisanal weaves are exported to more than 60 countries around the globe and they also hold a branch called Jaipur Living in the United States. A grassroots network that was envisioned by Nand Kishore Chaudhary is run by his family where each member overlooks a different area of expertise within the organisation. His eldest Asha is the CEO and Archana is the COO of Jaipur Living, USA; Kavita is the Design Director in India, Yogesh is the Director of Sales & Marketing and the youngest, Nitesh is the Director of Supply Chain & IT.

Together the Chaudharys preserve a successful and fair business model where they work directly with artisans to empower them and their communities with a sustainable livelihood.