Carpet Couture turns humble rugs into art pieces
After graduating from SCMHRD, Pune, Rashi Bajaj had an option to join her father’s business, instead she chose to launch Carpet Couture with her own designs, offering customized Indian contemporary handmade rugs.
Carpet Couture designs and curates creations that blend exquisite fibers like bamboo, raw silk, viscose, malaidori and New Zealand wool embellished with Austrian Swarovski crystals, leather and wood, to offer unique carpets for contemporary homes and hospitality projects like hotels and corporate offices.
“The vision behind the brand is to take the art of carpet creation to new milestones by offering not only custom-made carpets but innovative designs that are at par with international lifestyle. We offer an experience that pegs carpets as not just utility items but as pieces of art,” says Rashi.
Rashi met her business and life partner, Deep Bajaj, during their CAT coaching in Delhi in 2004. In 2009, while Rashi was working at Infosys, Pune, she got married and had to move to Delhi. “Many business ideas were explored but after a lot of deliberation the difficult path to ‘become a carpet designer’ was selected,” adds Deep. The company started with an investment of Rs. 15 lakhs saved by the duo.
Since the startup has a direct control over the manufacturing unit, it can customize individual pieces. “We select our yarns with great care and run them through several processes to give them strength and shine,” says Rashi. Carpet Couture gets involved from the very first stage of any project right from co-ordinating with upholstery colour and furniture design. They make sure the carpet blends beautifully with the overall interiors.
Rashi draws inspiration from life in general and designs her creations along the same lines. In terms of traction, Carpet Couture has been growing steadily over the years. “We get good offers to work on interesting projects,” reveals Deep.
“Initially, it was very tough. People would often laugh at me saying there isn’t a market for this in India,” recalls Rashi. However, she didn't pay attention to such remarks and launched her store-cum-studio in September 2009. “Those were very
difficult days as I had left a promising corporate career. My peers were progressing in their respective fields and customers were nowhere to be seen,” she adds.
However, over time as the husband-wife team introduced their product to interior designers and architects, who understood and appreciated quality and design, there was no looking back. “At present we’re working with the best interior designers from across the world, and carpets and rugs made by us adorn some of the best floors on this planet,” says Deep.
As of now, the startup works with designers based in metros only (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore) but it sees tier two and tier three cities as a huge market.