Jaipur Rugs brings three new collections to Salone del Mobile 2024

Founded in 1978 by Nand Kishore Chaudhary, also known as the Gandhi of the carpet design industry, Jaipur Rugs started off with nine artisans on two looms and gradually became one of the largest manufacturers of hand-knotted rugs in India. The brand, since then, has successfully fabricated contemporary works of art showcasing ancestral craft with a new vision and connecting it with global consumers. This ancestral family business uses traditional carpet making processes to provide a sustainable livelihood to the homes of nearly 40,000 artisans, which includes 85 per cent women, across 600 villages spread over five states of India.

This year, the brand showcases its expertise with three new collections, in one of Italy’s most prestigious studios at the Milan boutique in Piazza Castello, during Milan Design Week 2024, on view from April 15 - 21, 2024. Jaipur Rugs collaborated with prominent studios and brands such as AMDL Circle, Vimar1991 and DAAA Haus for their showcase in Milan.

STIR delves into these inter-region collaborations exhibited at ADML Circle, a landmark architectural building in Milan, during Salone Del Mobile.

Couture Collection by Vimar1991

For Jaipur Rugs, Piedmont-based yarn producer Vimar 1991 designed the Couture Collection using a monochromatic palette of yarns. Vimar 1991, a regular producer of tweed jackets for Chanel, utilised its luxury threads for the first time to weave carpets for the Indian brand. “The couture-quality carpets are woven using techniques usually reserved for the catwalk: bouclé tweeds and herringbone twills that are refashioned into tight knots or light flat weave dhurries,” mentions an excerpt from the press release. This technique delivers a fairly comfortable platform to walk on, while its minimalist black and white tonality gives it a timeless aesthetic, suitable for all seasons and spaces.

Facade Collection by Michele De Lucchi

ADML, a creative multidisciplinary studio based in Milan, collaborated with Jaipur Rugs to design a series of contemporary kilims or traditional flat tapestry-woven carpets and rugs, as part of the Facade Collection. Michele de Lucchi, a leading Italian artist, architect, member of the Memphis collective and founder of ADML, is known for his explorations in craftsmanship, as witnessed in his previously designed furniture for Hermes and Bottega Ghianda. Kilims is another exploration by Lucchi, inspired by traditionally produced carpets in the former Persian Empire, consisting of flat-woven rugs with no pile. With these contemporary rugs, ADML redefines traditional carpet construction by breaking the carpet into patches and then stitching them back in geometric compositions. Lucchi designed the carpets to be used as both traditional rugs as well as coverings, room dividers and more, hence highlighting Jaipur Rugs’s ambition to redefine the role of carpets in interior spaces.

Zig Zag Collection by DAAA Haus

Malta-based DAAA Haus, an internationally acclaimed design and architecture studio, collaborates with Jaipur Rugs to unveil the Zig Zag collection, which consists of inline handmade rugs. The architectural practice, with studios in both Malta and Mumbai, aims to represent the Indo-Italian link via a series of abstract black and white rugs. This collection encompasses carpets designed with irregular volumes of black overlayed on a black background. The two monotones are connected via coloured embroideries, arranged in a zig-zag format. These stitches, the only flashes of colour on the otherwise monotonous carpets, represent the linkage between the two cultures and countries. The Zig Zag collection aims to combine architecture and art, where each carpet represents an interplay between design, heritage, and contemporary expression.

Jaipur Rugs will showcase their exhibits during Milan Design Week 2024, from April 15 - 21, 2024, at the Architecture to Couture Showroom, via Marco Minghetti 8, in Milan, Italy.