There are spaces that make you look at what’s on display. And then there are spaces that make you look at how it got there.

Jaipur Rugs’ new Mumbai flagship does the latter. The 20,000 sq.ft. space is set inside the historic Empire Mills which brings the handwoven rugs into a building that comes with a history of making things. The store lets the stay industrial architecture, old bones visible alongside it’s colour, pattern and craft instead of erasing the buildings past.

THE BUILDING WAS PART OF THE BRIEF.

Belonging to Mumbai's Textile history, the Empire Mills becomes an interesting backdrop for Jaipur rugs to build another kind of textile tradition.

The original character of the space has been allowed to remain, while rugs bring softness, colour and movement into it. The contrast works, steel and structure against wool and weave; Mumbai’s industrial past alongside craft traditions that continue across India today.

YOU DON’T JUST SEE THE FINISHED PIECE.

Perhaps the most interesting thing here is that the making hasn’t been hidden away. Artisans weave inside the flagship, turning a process that usually happens far from the final retail floor into something visitors can actually watch. Nearby, heritage weaves sit with contemporary collections, while a towering rug archive draws the eye upwards. 

It changes the way you look at a rug. What first reads as colour and pattern starts to read as hours, knots and hands.

“The process gets its own spotlight.”

THE RUGS DON’T STAY ON THE FLOOR.

You look up and see that they climb the walls.

The rugs began to feel less like objects waiting to be bought when displayed vertically across the scale of the old mill and feel more like progressing archives of Indian weaving. The Traditional techniques aren't hidden behind walls or glass but the sit comfortably alongside contemporary design new collaborations and pieces made for homes now.

And perhaps that is what makes the space work. It doesn’t ask craft to choose between preserving its past and participating in the present.

THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE RUGS ARE PART OF THE STORY.

Jaipur Rugs works with artisan communities across India, which make the distance between the maker and the eventual owner disappear 

When you watch a rug being made you can not just think of it as another finished product. You notice the details like the repetition of patterns, the precision and the time involved and more importantly the person making it.

Because sometimes knowing who made something changes the way you value it.

IMAGE CALLOUT: An artisan weaving inside the Mumbai flagship, with the loom, yarn and work-in-progress visible.