I — ABSTRACT
Abstract
Art Unbound. Expression Underfoot.
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WeavingDreams
II — ART DECO
Art Deco
Bold Geometry. Timeless Glamour.
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III — GEOMETRIC
Geometric
Pure Form. Structural Elegance.
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IV — KOOH-I-NOOR
Kooh-i-Noor
The Ultimate Jewel for Your Floors.
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V — THE DECONSTRUCTED SERIES
The Deconstructed Series
Erase the Line Between Antique Art and Modern Luxury.
ExploreWoven in Jaipur. Lived with everywhere.
II — Foreword
Each Carpetstory piece is woven by a single artisan, signed by hand, and travels from one room in Jaipur to another, anywhere in the world.
On the World Stage
Shown at Domotex 2012, on the world’s largest stage.
In 2012 our hand-knotted rugs were showcased at Domotex in Hannover — the world’s leading trade fair for carpets and floor coverings, featured on Fashion TV. We had the biggest carpet showcase there, and our key collection was Shalimar.
III — A study in scale
0
hand-tied knots in an 8 × 10 ft piece.
Up to 0 knots in our finest weaves.
Knot density
10 to 14 / inch²
Weave time
6 to 10 months
Made by
One artisan
IV — The materials
A short and considered list of things that touch the floor.
Wool
Imported from highland sheep in New Zealand, where the wool is long-fibered, lanolin-rich, and naturally lustrous. Hand-spun, never machine-carded.
New Zealand
Silk
Mulberry silk imported from China. Used as accent threads in the field, where it catches light differently across the day. Reserved for the finer weaves.
China
Cotton
The warp. The architecture beneath the pile. Long-staple cotton imported from various parts of India, twisted to a density that holds the knots for a hundred years if cared for.
Various parts of India
The colour
Three plants. A river. A roof.
Every colour in a Carpetstory piece begins as a plant, ground or boiled or fermented, then dipped, dried, and dipped again until the wool refuses any more.
Madder
Indigo
Walnut
V — Heritage
Four generations of keeping the dust out of the dye.
1924. It started with a single loom in a courtyard in Jaipur. My great-grandfather wove pieces for the local merchants. He was known for a specific madder red that no one else could replicate.
1968. My father expanded the workshop. We began exporting to Europe, but the rules remained the same: natural dyes, hand-spun wool, and the Persian knot. We refused to adopt the tufting guns that were speeding up the industry.
Today. Carpetstory is still a family operation. We don't have a factory. We have a network of master weavers, some of whom have worked with our family for three generations. The madder red is still exactly the same.
The original courtyard, 1924
Checking the indigo vat, circa 1970
The master ledger, untouched
From the founder
My grandfather wove. My father sold. I noticed, in between, that the world had stopped looking at the floor.
Carpetstory is a small attempt to make people look down again. Not at the rug — at the eight months it took, and the hands that took them.
AashritVI — In the world
Where they live.
VII — Voices
“It arrived in a wooden crate that smelled of cedar. The rug smelled of wool and sun. Eight months later, both still do.”
Camille BertinParis, France
“The pile is so dense your foot sinks a quarter inch. I notice it every morning.”
Quincy ArchitectsPractice, NYC
“Specified for a client in Geneva. They wrote a year later just to say the rug had aged better than the room around it.”
Henrik VogelArchitect, Zurich
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