Rashi Bajaj, the founder of Carpet Couture, credits her husband for pushing her on to realise her dreams. The studio designs carpets and rugs for luxury hotels, as well as private homes. Rashi, who set up the studio in 2009, began her journey by following in her father’s footsteps. “When we started, the concept of people doing up their homes or being house-proud was just beginning. I had grown up in the city of carpets—Bhadohi—a small town near Varanasi. My father would export Persian carpets to the US. So I was aware of the craft, the heritage and how the basic infrastructure worked,” she says. Inspired, Rashi quit her corporate job and began her entrepreneurial journey, first by overhauling the family business, and then by rolling out her own brand.
Offering customised Indian contemporary handmade rugs to Indian customers was foremost in Rashi’s mind when she decided to launch her studio. “I wanted to make my own designs, woven in rural India, embellished by rural women,” she adds. But it was not an easy journey. Initially, Rashi opened a store of readymade carpets. “Even though I knew I had quality products, we failed to sell.” She mulled joining hands with a foreign brand, but was not convinced. “Weavers craft rugs for paltry sums and stores abroad make the profit. Importing rugs back meant cheating Indian customers by charging 10-times for something which is made in India,” she says. Before long, she realised that it is professionals—such as interior designers and architects—who take a call on design. “I changed my strategy and started meeting these professionals. The move worked and orders started pouring in.”
In the next four to five years, Rashi travelled in India and abroad to gather a group of select clientele. The hospitality sector soon took to her designs and places such as Kempinski in Doha, Movenpick in Dubai, Shaza Hotel in Muscat, Oman, W Hotel in Doha, Trump Towers in Pune, Marriott in Bengaluru, the Premium Lounge at the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, besides royal residences in the Middle East and India now boast plush custom-made carpets from her range. “When I see my work adorn the floors of the best hotels and residences across the world, I feel happy. But I’m happier when I share these images with my weavers. It is all their hard work that has made it happen,” she says.
Rashi reiterates that after India, it is the Middle East that is her biggest market. “Getting to know the right network of people took a bit of time, as the selling and buying process is more opaque there and one has to go through different channels. But we managed to get a breakthrough and 2011 onwards, we established a strong foothold in the Gulf market,” she says.
The next stop for the studio was the US, which again boasts a completely different style of working, she says. “We are still in the process of understanding the market. We visit at regular intervals and meet up with people,” she adds.
One thing Rashi stresses is that the brand has to keep learning from newer markets regarding quality parameters. “Each new market springs its own established quality parameter that we need to follow. And every time we have to start from scratch to make sure that we adhere to all the requirements,” she says, adding that it is not always an easy process.
“One has to keep going back to the drawing board and then convey the same to the weavers, for whom it may be something very new. But I’m lucky that my team is an enthusiastic one. They are eager to go beyond their comfort zone. And when we do manage to deliver something we have never tried before, it is a cause for celebration for the entire team. After all, that is what success is all about. Team work and challenging yourself,” she smiles.