Story of Jaipur Rugs
It is a family business that combines the pursuit of profit with the spreading of kindness in a way that benefits all of its stakeholders: its consumers and their families, the artisans and their families, its employees, its suppliers, the buyers and channels involved.
The business is built on the bedrock of values that goes back to the founder, Nand Kishore Chaudhary that combines kindness as their default demeanour, compassion for those around them, and the humility that everyone deserves dignity. This means that Jaipur Rugs will work with all those that stand for these values, and it drives them as an organisation to work with and tap into the creative capacity of those in the society that are disadvantaged or rejected. …show more content…
Though he had finished college and had started working in his father’s shoe shop in Churu, he was not happy. He recounts, “In 1978, Churu was a small town without much purchasing power. I realised that there wasn’t much potential in the shoe business.”
He soon had a job offer as a cashier in a bank, yet he did not join the government job and rejected a secure & stable life. He knew he wanted to start something on his own, something big.
Crafting with weavers
A friend had told him that hand-knotted rugs were in huge demand. So he travelled to Jaipur and studied the industry. He also visited the carpet looms and saw how carpets were fabricated.
Meanwhile, he borrowed Rs. 5,000 from his father to buy two looms. He hired eight weavers of untouchable caste and a master weaver. Despite opposition from his family and caste taboo, he stayed with the weavers, learnt weaving from them, and would even eat lunch sitting next to the looms. He did not agree with their argument that weavers belong to lower castes. In fact, he believed, “How can someone who weaves such beautiful carpets be of lower rank and bad at heart. Isn’t a person known by the work he does?” such was his love for weaving and his artisans. No wonder his buyer (a Jaipur based exporter) was surprised to see the high quality of the first carpet woven by his …show more content…
Bolstering beyond borders
In two years, he scaled up his home-based carpet factory to six looms. He started taking on small projects for exporters but realised he would have to look for other ways of expanding soon. He began installing two-three looms in few of the villages in his proximity. That was the first step in the creation of his network of weavers. Soon he expanded his reach to Jodhpur. Moreover, within eight years, Chaudhary covered almost all of Rajasthan.
Somewhere along the line, he learnt that the government was keen to promote carpet weaving in the tribal belts of Gujarat and was training tribals. He left for Jhalod, a small town in the tribal belt of Gujarat endorsed by his accompanying family.
To take care of weaving activities in Rajasthan, he appointed Area Commanders to oversee it. “We had 200 looms in Rajasthan by then, and wherever we had a concentration of 50 looms, we would depute an area commander to monitor them,” he
It is a family business that combines the pursuit of profit with the spreading of kindness in a way that benefits all of its stakeholders: its consumers and their families, the artisans and their families, its employees, its suppliers, the buyers and channels involved.
The business is built on the bedrock of values that goes back to the founder, Nand Kishore Chaudhary that combines kindness as their default demeanour, compassion for those around them, and the humility that everyone deserves dignity. This means that Jaipur Rugs will work with all those that stand for these values, and it drives them as an organisation to work with and tap into the creative capacity of those in the society that are disadvantaged or rejected. …show more content…
Though he had finished college and had started working in his father’s shoe shop in Churu, he was not happy. He recounts, “In 1978, Churu was a small town without much purchasing power. I realised that there wasn’t much potential in the shoe business.”
He soon had a job offer as a cashier in a bank, yet he did not join the government job and rejected a secure & stable life. He knew he wanted to start something on his own, something big.
Crafting with weavers
A friend had told him that hand-knotted rugs were in huge demand. So he travelled to Jaipur and studied the industry. He also visited the carpet looms and saw how carpets were fabricated.
Meanwhile, he borrowed Rs. 5,000 from his father to buy two looms. He hired eight weavers of untouchable caste and a master weaver. Despite opposition from his family and caste taboo, he stayed with the weavers, learnt weaving from them, and would even eat lunch sitting next to the looms. He did not agree with their argument that weavers belong to lower castes. In fact, he believed, “How can someone who weaves such beautiful carpets be of lower rank and bad at heart. Isn’t a person known by the work he does?” such was his love for weaving and his artisans. No wonder his buyer (a Jaipur based exporter) was surprised to see the high quality of the first carpet woven by his …show more content…
Bolstering beyond borders
In two years, he scaled up his home-based carpet factory to six looms. He started taking on small projects for exporters but realised he would have to look for other ways of expanding soon. He began installing two-three looms in few of the villages in his proximity. That was the first step in the creation of his network of weavers. Soon he expanded his reach to Jodhpur. Moreover, within eight years, Chaudhary covered almost all of Rajasthan.
Somewhere along the line, he learnt that the government was keen to promote carpet weaving in the tribal belts of Gujarat and was training tribals. He left for Jhalod, a small town in the tribal belt of Gujarat endorsed by his accompanying family.
To take care of weaving activities in Rajasthan, he appointed Area Commanders to oversee it. “We had 200 looms in Rajasthan by then, and wherever we had a concentration of 50 looms, we would depute an area commander to monitor them,” he