Jaipur Rugs, founded in 1978 is a luxury goods company that creates high quality artisanal carpets: hand-knotted and carefully crafted for your home. After initial weaving, the carpets undergo 18 intensive stages of preparation before being put on the market, taking up to a month. Measurement, knot counting, repairing, knot beating, back burning, washing, cleaning, shearing, carving and embossing are just a few of the steps in this intensive process. But is that all that they do?
The dictionary definition of an artisanal product is “A product made in a traditional or non-mechanised way”, according to the google dictionary. And if anyone employs the ‘traditional’ aspect into real life perfectly, it is Jaipur Rugs. Across the states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan (both in India), groups of female artisans in the rural areas of India utilise their creativeness to drive a passion of rug weaving, fuelling the possibility of an independent lifestyle, breaking boundaries, and giving families a chance to reap the benefits of the women’s labour. Jaipur Rugs does this by eradicating the middle man from the equation (Rug vendor-employer-rug maker) to truly establish a relationship with the women who create the rugs. This ‘middle-man’, in the past, exploited the women, driven by biases rooted in casteism, with low wages. Contrastingly, Jaipur Rugs strives to empower and reward the women for their work, celebrating their creativity.
The company sets up a training area, free of charge in each village, where the women learn exactly how to create the detailed, beautiful carpets from multiple yarns of wool. Following this, the trained women are free to work with Jaipur Rugs, or with a different corporation. The company sets up a loom right in the artisan’s home, enabling them to create the carpets without worrying about childcare, or having to travel to a different location. With Jaipur Rugs, they noticeably prioritise the choices and opinions of the women who work for them, giving them the opportunity to choose their own path, and creating convenient ways to work. Many young women use the money they earn from weaving carpets to fund their higher education – for example a BA in arts, or a degree in mathematics. Even after one project is complete, the artisans are given a choice to remain working for Jaipur Rugs, or with a different corporation all together – there is never a binding, exploitative contract. Complete freedom in their employment is a tangible possibility.
I visited the village Manpura, an hour drive away from Jaipur city, is a place rife with talented women. As for the women who follow a specific designed plan for the rugs, I heard from a talented creator of the rugs, and, a mother of 2. Whilst demonstrating how to weave a mere piece of thread into a rug worth thousands of pounds, she revealed that in 2010, she married an abusive alcoholic. Through hard work and effort, she earned enough money to leave him, take her children, and build a small house of their own in Manpura. Jaipur Rugs acts as a bridge, that before, was impossible to cross, but now allows a woman in jeopardy to a future of stability and freedom. Now, not only are the artisans able to gain financial security and domestic independence, but are able to hone their creativity skills in the Manchaha programme, enabling the once disadvantaged women to take control of their lives, and their career.
Manchaha, translating in Hindi directly to what the heart wants, is an initiative created by the daughter of the founder, upon seeing a creative invention tossed away in a village. There lay an empty ‘Supari’ (betel nut chewed with paan – snack) packet, with a colourful array of wool threaded around it, fashioned into a children’s toy. This simple act exacerbates the immense creativity that can turn litter into an abject that sparks joy and happiness amidst a perhaps difficult, Darwinian setting. This led the daughter to form Manchaha – essentially spontaneous weaving, drawing from everyday life. This can be people, festivals (like Teej, Diwali, Holi, etc) or even food… we saw a woman create multiple prints of a ‘softy’ (soft serve ice cream). To pay tribute to the multiple women that participate in this initiative, their pictures are displayed in the Jaipur Showroom, along with pictures of prestigious awards that the women have won (11 in total), enabling them to travel from their villages to faraway locations like Germany, Austria… all over the world. Locations that may have once just been shapes on a map, have now become everlasting memories due to the creative design. ‘Freedom’ Manchaha is an additional programme, creating impromptu designed rugs from members of prison. Encased in black and white stripes to represent a classic jail uniform, are repentful ideas, hidden stories, and enclosed emotions that are barred from society, but released through a commercial means, is a rug, rich with the emotions of an inmate. It is seen as a form of therapy, and relaxation. All in all, Manchaha is a massive success, promoting the rug as not just another item, but someone else’s story – their feelings and emotions, all bundled up into millions of knots of thread.
The ‘Happiness Project’, created by the company, enriches and teaches their employees in the village about how to harness their mindfulness and utilise it for the better. The company’s employees their personal relationships with the artisans, filling the villages with laughter. These employees teach the artisans to channel the attitudes and existences of some animals into their mindset. These animals, for instance, Deer, Horses, Sparrows, and Fish, all constitute towards different positive aspects of human tendencies and wishes. For example, a sparrow is the ultimate form of freedom: able to soar through the sky, with no bounds but the atmosphere, promoting curiosity. Or, a deer: the ultimate wanderer and explorer, encouraging people to be venturesome. Each employee is given a booklet, and asked to express their emotions, thoughts, and feelings through writing and drawing, enhancing their creativity even more.
Jaipur Rugs, founded in 1978 is a luxury goods company that creates high quality artisanal carpets: hand-knotted and carefully crafted for your home. But it is so much more than that. It is female empowerment. It is financial security. It is the harnessing of creativity. Getting to do what the heart truly wants. It is mental wellbeing and creativity. The duality of this company – a manufacturer, yet also, an empowering establishment, enables customers not to just experience the luxury of their carpets, but experience an enriching story.