The Manchaha Collection: A Celebration of Women’s Design by Jaipur Rugs

Jaipur Rugs is an Indian company founded in 1976 that specializes in designing and producing rugs. The company integrates the enhancement of craft techniques with a profound professional ethos and provides weavers with looms and technical means to work directly in their homes. The production chain moves door-to-door, spreading the production of carpets across the territory and improving workers’ living conditions.

85% of Jaipur Rugs’ more than 40,000 weavers from rural India are women. Part of the production is entrusted to the weavers themselves, who become generators of hidden creativity through a movement from imagination to realization. This initiative is called Manchaha and is a collection of unique carpets made entirely by the weavers. The project reflects ancient rural India’s imagery and allows each woman to become a designer and storyteller through her carpet.

The Jaipur Rugs showroom in Milan hosts the Manchaha collection in an itinerary that winds its way through animal and natural motifs. The rugs emphasize the aquatic element through references to lotus flowers, movements of ponds of water, and earth; colourful patterns refer to travel themes while inspirations drawn from everyday objects complete a total narrative of ancient rural India.

Jaipur Rugs’ commitment to providing weavers with looms and technical means has enabled them to work directly in their homes. This sustainable working model has led to better living conditions for workers as well as opportunities for them to develop their artistic potential. The door-to-door production chain ensures that carpet production is spread across the territory.

The Manchaha initiative began as an experiment but has since developed into a cultural movement. It allows expert craftswomen to become generators of hidden creativity by entrusting them with part of the production process right from the planning and design stages. The Manchaha collection contains unique pieces made entirely by weavers starting from the design phase. Each rug tells a visual and tactile story reflecting ancient rural India’s imagery while allowing each woman to express her creativity.