When Kavi Chaudhary was a child, she would accompany her father, NK Chaudhary, into remote villages in India. Now the design director of Jaipur Living, Kavi noticed that the villagers had different perspectives than she did. “It was very fascinating for me to see their original solutions to life,” she says, “and how it was different from me, living in a larger town at that time.”
Over her years of working alongside thousands of weavers in these communities, who create rugs for the company her father founded, this curiosity would eventually blossom into a unique artistic partnership called Manchaha. The concept behind this rug collection is simple: rather than give the weavers a map that they follow knot by knot on the loom, slowly bringing to life a design created by another, the artisans have the freedom to stitch together their own artistic creations.
At first, that freedom was deeply intimidating, Kavi explains: “When we launched, artisans were shocked, and they were like, ‘We can create something on our own and still get paid for that?’” They didn’t feel qualified to design their own rugs, and yet, “they were pleasantly surprised at the same time,” she says. The company employs grassroots leaders who supported and checked in on the villagers, encouraging them to not get overwhelmed by their new artistic assignment and look to things in their own lives—their homes, their religions, and their families—for inspiration in the designs.
Eventually, it clicked. “Often you’ll notice that [the weavers] would start testing patterns in the first few inches [of the rug], and after a few inches, they would have the confidence that they can do it, and you can see the pattern go bolder,” Kavi explains. “Then they would start putting their personal stories into it.” If you scan a Manchaha design, you might notice motifs reminiscent of saris, landscapes, animals, temples, and other elements that the artisans would incorporate from their daily routines—and pull in from their imaginations.
Explore the Manchaha collection →
After years of successful Manchaha collaborations, Jaipur Living is now focused on expanding the line in the US. During NYCxDesign, the brand is staging its first domestic exhibition showcasing the line at VFA Gallery in SoHo, through May 30. Here, the carpets are displayed hanging, as commanding works of art alongside the Warhols and Harings and Hirsts elsewhere in the space.
“While neutral tones remain dominant in the US market, we’re seeing a growing appetite for rugs that act as artistic statements,” explains Asha Chaudhary, the Atlanta-based CEO of Jaipur Living. “That’s where Manchaha shines—because each rug is designed by the artisan herself, the result is a burst of uninhibited expression.”
While Jaipur Living’s portfolio includes a wide range of styles, Manchaha is a particularly apt representation of the vision that Asha and Kavi’s father had when he established the company in 1978. NK started out by training nine weavers to work on two looms in his own home. The workers were from the untouchable caste in Indian society, and his decision to employ them was met with scorn from his community. However, he continued to steadily grow his operations, eventually going on to train more than 10,000 Indigenous weavers.
“From the beginning, he defied convention by going directly into rural communities, knocking on doors, and partnering with women artisans who had no prior professional experience but immense talent,” Asha explains. Today, Jaipur Living works with some 40,000 artisans, cutting out middlemen in order to ensure that the craftspeople make a proper living and are able to reap the rewards of their work. The family-owned business operates on a doorstep entrepreneurship model, meaning that the weaver’s own home takes the place of a traditional factory. It “allows artisans to work from their homes, on their own schedules, while receiving fair wages, healthcare, education, and leadership training,” Asha says.
These are societies that continue to be male-dominated, and yet the community of artisans is mostly made up of women, several of whom have gone on to win international awards for their work on Manchaha. “I saw them as humans, but my daughter Kavi saw them as artists,” says NK, referring to the way that this collection allows the weavers to own the creative process like never before.
And the impacts of these liberties are notable. In the villages in which they work, “The women were always known by the husband’s name, and today, in many households the husband is known by the wives,” Kavi explains. “They’ve become like celebrities, because the village knows that they’re doing something creative. It’s very heartening for us to see how much it impacts them. It really changes the fabric of the village.”
And in a time when conscious consumerism is on the rise, and sustainable supply chains are increasingly vital, the company is betting that customers will see the merit of their human-centric ways of working. As Asha puts it: “Our long-term goal is to reframe how people view handmade products—not as precious or out of reach, but as soulful, sustainable, and essential to the way we live.”
