What do Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi, Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad, the Oberoi in Marrakesh and some of the best-dressed homes around the world have in common?
Their floors are all laid out with distinctive Obeetee carpets. Modern, cutting-edge designs rooted in traditional craft styles, forgotten motifs and a century-old legacy is what defines Obeetee, India’s best known carpet company.
Founded in 1920 as Oakley Bowden & Taylor, it has since grown to 650 permanent employees and works with over 30,000 independent artisans from Uttar Pradesh’s Bhadohi and Mirzapur districts. Over the last century, the brand has infused colour, vitality and creativity into homes, hotels, offices and palaces.
Elaborating on the company’s core design vocabulary, chairman Rudra Chatterjee says, “Our consumers and our weaving community lie at the heart of everything we do.
"With many of them being fifth- and sixth-generation weavers working from their own looms or homes, our structure ensures that their agrarian roots are not neglected. We pride ourselves in protecting this skill through our fifth- and sixth-generation weavers.”
The brand’s in-house designers travel the world in search of inspiration and explore the limits of this creative medium.
They push the boundaries of colour, texture and pattern to bring to life visual masterpieces, making authentic, handwoven designs accessible to the rest of the world.
“A good design is often termed as what is pleasing to the eye with equal focus on the functionality of the product. But the perception of good design changes with time. The challenge is to strike the right balance; to create rugs that represent design, material and craftsmanship that are local, yet exceptional in heritage and quality. Our vocabulary is often a result of osmosis of different crafts and architecture from around the world. This is how we manage to stand out from our peers every season,” he says.
With a colour bank that boasts over 4,000 colour-fast shades of wool, designers at Obeetee constantly study new textures and fresh combinations, in an effort to ensure the production of the finest quality rugs available.Early this year, the brand collaborated with designer Raghavendra Rathore to bring forth his inspiration from the old world aesthetics, regal grandeur, and Indian heritage and tradition. The brand had previously collaborated with fashion czars Tarun Tahiliani, and Abraham and Thakore.
“We were aware of the strong Persian and Central Asian design language in carpets. We felt the time had come to showcase rugs influenced by India’s own textile traditions, but with an evolved design vocabulary. Our collaboration with designers was part of our ‘Proud to be Indian’ campaign. Each of them chose from our Indian craft and textile repertoire, expressing them in their own personal signature style,” he says.
Inspirations such as bandhani/ikat motif, a Rajasthan miniature painting border or the ‘Gaddi Masand’ from the palaces of Jodhpur make the compilation contemporary, reaffirming the ingenuity of the human hand and the creative eye. W
ith exports being their lion’s share of revenue, Chatterjee says, the US offers almost 90 percent sales opportunity. “After almost a century in exports, we feel the need to connect with consumers here. We opened our first flagship store in Delhi recently and intend to expand the retail network nationally,” he says.
Incidentally, the brand is also closely involved with its community of carpet weavers and has undertaken many developmental initiatives for them. These include the 29-year-old Project Mala, where land has been provided free of cost for building schools. Partnering with Sulabh International, it has built 125 toilets in villages where its craftsmen reside, and has also adopted seven village ponds for recharging the ground water.
Besides, it also runs the Women Weaver Initiative. The brand believes that women should have access to equal opportunities and has been imparting a four-month training to women in rug-weaving techniques with a daily stipend.