If our homes are the receptacles for our hearts, how we adorn them is a true reflection of ourselves. Those who give importance to beauty and sustainability will be thrilled to learn about the offerings of The Rug Republic, which promises both these tenets in equal measure. Their products are available in over 90 countries around the world. Aditya Gupta, the brand’s founder, joins The Daily Guardian Review for a chat. Excerpts from an edited interview:
Monar Carpet
Aditya Gupta
Q.What does your brand stand for and what is your manufacturing process?
A. The Rug Republic makes contemporary Indian handmade rugs. It is a pioneer in recycled products and the only Indian rug brand with a Global Recycling Standards (GRS) certification. We believe in making everything from scratch and every step is thoughtfully planned. For our PET range, plastic bottles are first converted into yarn through chemical and mechanical processes. Cotton, wool, and other materials are also sourced from farms and made into thread. Our recycled materials like denim and silk from discarded sarees are sourced from around the world, then sanitized, treated, and prepared to be made into rugs. Threads are then dyed in myriad colours to make beautiful rugs. Simultaneously, a team of designers spends thousands of hours in front of their sketch pads and screens to come up with the gorgeous designs we are famous for. These are then converted into stencils and samples, and eventually into finished products after numerous rigorous processes of quality checks, design refinements, etc. We have a gorgeous experience centre in Okhla, Delhi, and we encourage people to come and visit us. The best place to find our collection is on our website, www.trrhome.com. We can also be found on important ecommerce platforms.
Q. What is the USP that sets you apart from your competitors?
A. The Rug Republic has often been lauded for its contemporary design aesthetic using traditional techniques. But there’s more to us than that. We believe that our success means nothing if it doesn’t uplift those around us. Whether this means the artists who make the rugs, the office workers or mother Earth, we believe in moving forward as a collective. The Rug Republic uses a lot of recycled cotton, wool, silk, denim and even PET yarn made of recycled plastic bottles in every collection (with more than 300 recycled plastic bottles being used to make a single rug). Our factories are also powered by solar energy. We are proud to say that we have been doing our part for years and plan to increase these initiatives more and more in the years to come. We also care deeply about our fellow humans. The Rug Republic has followed the utmost hygiene standards along with best practises like regular temperature checks and periodic sanitization all through this pandemic. But as an organization, we have been doing our part in promoting personal hygiene for a long time now. The Sharda Foundation has undertaken the project of building a minimum of 500 toilets each year in the villages surrounding Meerut City-the area where most of our craftsmen are from. So, while we are certainly proud to be one of India’s foremost avant-garde fashion design houses, we believe it is our passion and compassion to grow not just as a business but as an ecosystem of people and nature that truly sets us apart.
Q. Is sustainability catching on with an Indian audience?
A. People today want to make a conscious choice; their selections are not purely motivated by design. They not only want to know where something came from, but how and with what it was made. Today’s customer is discerning and mindful of the environment at every step. I believe it is a great time for buyers and sellers to come together to promote green products and leave a lasting impact on nature.
Q. What are you working on next?
A. We plan to grow in the e-commerce space both in India and abroad, using online advertising as well as novel methods of presenting the products to the customer. People often want an idea of how the rug will look in their home, and we are working on using augmented reality to make that possible for people sitting at home. The way we shop is changing, and we must change with it. We’re off to a good start and aim to be available in over 100 marketplaces within the next 12 months. Hopefully, we will have a product from our line in every home in the world one day!
Q. Did the pandemic affect your business? How did you overcome the challenges?
A. I think people really learned to treasure their homes during the pandemic. Those who barely spent time at home earlier were stuck there for months on end. It made everyone realise the value of a well-kept home and also the simple joy of changing the way your house looks. I think one of the very few silver linings of the pandemic was that it gave people a new perspective on how homes should be treated.
Noor Anand Chawla pens lifestyle articles for various publications and her blog www.nooranandchawla.com.