Learn About Rugs

Rug Making

We strongly believe that the real beauty and character of a hand-knotted rug lies in the infinite subtle nuances that are bestowed upon it because of the imperfections of the human touch. In order to maintain these subtle nuances that make each rug different from the other, every step of the rug making process is performed by hand.

Designing & Coloring

This is the stage where the vision of the designer takes shape. In our setup, the role of the computer design software is limited to giving the abstract design concepts a more tangible form. As far as the actual sketching is concerned, we like to give the designer the freedom to sketch the design concept by hand even though it makes the designing process a lot more tedious and labor intensive. We believe that using traditional practices for sketching a design enhances the natural creativity of the designer and allows him to create subtle intricacies within the design elements.

A huge number of customers walk into a rug store with a fabric in their hand, trying to look For a matching rug. For a lot of people, the color is the only criterion for making the decision. Our colorists need to make sure that our palettes reflect the current color trends in the furnishings market around the world. We go through an intensive sampling phase to achieve the same. Dozens of swatches are created for each shade. It is a Herculean task to ensure that the accent colors are in sync with the background and the border colors.

Spinning of Wool

The surface of the rug denotes the basic character or 'feel' that the rug exhibits. The texture and natural subtle variations in color (more commonly known as 'abrash') are functions of the technique used for spinning the wool. Various combinations of wools (imported from different countries) are mixed together before spinning to achieve varied textures. As with designs and colors, we constantly keep experimenting with different blends of wool to come up with a new texture every season.

Weaving

This is the core of the rug making process. Everything else becomes redundant if this stage is not mastered. Weaving a rug is an art in itself. It requires a great deal of skill and patience. It takes months and sometimes even years to weave a single rug. The most difficult part of rug making is to maintain consistency and quality in the weaving process. The 700-odd weavers employed by the firm have a minimum of 5-7 years of rug weaving experience and work under the guidance of master weavers who have been a part of the evolution of rug weaving, for the past few decades.

Finishing

A diamond is just another worthless stone till it is cut, polished and presented in the right setting. Similarly, a rug may be beautifully designed and skillfully woven but all that work is completely undone if it is not immaculately finished. The finishing of a rug is a very intriguing process that includes washing, clipping, stretching, etc. It is intriguing because there is more than one way of achieving the same result. The "look" of a rug can vary considerably depending on how it has been finished. The pile of the rug, the sheen of the surface, the saturation of the accent colors.....are all functions of the finishing process.