A skill that is not passed forward disappears.
I think about this more than anything else in my work.

The knowledge that makes a great hand-knotted rug possible is not written down anywhere.
It lives in hands. In the muscle memory of a master weaver who has tied 8,000 knots a day for thirty years.

In the eye of a dye master who can see a colour shift before it becomes visible to anyone else. In the accumulated judgment of craftsmen who have spent a decade learning one thing deeply.

When those hands stop, that knowledge stops.
Not eventually. Immediately.

We at Understorey have 3,500 craftsmen. I consider myself a custodian of what they know as much as of what we make.

Paying fairly is the beginning of that custodianship. Not the end.

It also means making the work worth choosing – for the generation that comes after the current one. Making sure young people in Jaipur see this as a craft worth mastering, a life worth building.

We strive to make the best rugs we can because that is what we love.

We make sure the people who make them are valued because we want this craft to exist for generations to come.

The most beautiful rugs in the world are made in Jaipur.
Not London, New York or Milan.
Here.

For decades, the workshops in this city made them quietly, brilliantly, without stopping. And the world bought them through European showrooms, American design houses, luxury hotels on every continent.

The brands that took this craft global deserved their success.
They had the eye to see something extraordinary. Then they worked hard, for years to make the world see it too. Marketing, storytelling, presence. They did what it takes.

We at SNKE were busy making the rugs.
We never told the story.
That was the gap.

The craft was always here. The wool, the weavers, the knowledge built across centuries, none of it needed to go anywhere to become world class. It already was.

What we didn’t have was the platform or the inclination to say so ourselves.

Now we have both. We at Understorey wish to tell the story of our craft, our weavers, our heritage.

The craft, the artistry was always here.
Now we are ready to show it.

Exclusivity is becoming rarer.
Mass production has made everything accessible.

Today, you can walk into a store and buy the same rug that hundreds of other homes already have.

Same design. Same colours and same size.

Efficient. Affordable. Replaceable.

Now consider a hand-knotted rug.

Higher upfront cost.

📌 But here’s what you’re actually paying for:
No design limits.
No colour restrictions.
No size constraints.
No production repetition.

Even two rugs woven from the same design will never be identical.
Because every knot is tied by hand.

Micro variations happen.
That is character.

Mass production gives uniformity.
Hand-knotting gives individuality.

And in a world where everything is replicated, owning something that cannot be replicated is the real luxury. 

A majority of the weavers in our industry are women.
They wake up before the house does.

They sit at a loom – no motor, no machine doing the work for them. Just their hands, their skill, and a pattern they carry in their head.

They tie 8,000 knots a day. By hand. One at a time.
For months.

Then the rug leaves.
It goes into a showroom in Mumbai or New York or Dubai. Someone walks in, sees it, and feels something they can’t explain.

They never meet the woman who made it.
She never sees the room it ends up in.
She just makes the next one.

I have watched women in our workshops hold patterns in their heads that I cannot hold on paper.

I have watched a weaver catch an error in a design three rows before it would have become visible to anyone else.

I have watched hands move with a speed and precision that no machine has ever matched.

This is not a feel-good story.
This is the industry.

The craft that the world calls luxury, the pieces that end up in the most considered homes, the most celebrated interiors are built on the hands of women who have spent decades mastering something most people don’t even know how to look at.

We talk about heritage. About artistry. About what makes a hand-knotted rug extraordinary.

We should talk more about who is doing the making.

To the women in our workshops, in our family, in this craft across generations :
You didn’t just keep this art form alive.
You are why it’s worth keeping.

Happy Women’s Day.

Every hand-knotted rug is a painting. Except the canvas is wool and the brush is a human hand.

When a weaver sits at a loom with a hundred thousand knots ahead of them, every single one tied by hand – that rug will be unlike any other rug ever made.

Even if the design is identical to one made before, the flower on the left will look slightly different from the flower on the right. The tension in the pile will carry the particular rhythm of that weaver’s hands on that day over those months.

This is not imprecision. It is the fingerprint of making.

When the rug is bespoke, when it comes from a client’s imagination, their space, their life – it carries something no machine can approximate.

That rug is a record of a conversation between a person’s imagination and a craftsman’s hands.

The whole world today is chasing exclusivity. People pay premiums for limited editions, for one-of-a-kind pieces, for things that can’t be replicated.

Everything we make is already all of those things. By nature.
Not because we decided to limit production. But because genuine making is inherently irreplaceable.

We at Understorey are not in the rug business.
We are in the business of making something that exists only once.

That is what hand-knotted means.

Why Hand-Knotted Rugs Are Expensive
The cost question is always valid.

📌 Here’s the honest answer.

1.⁠ ⁠Raw materials
We at Understorey use natural fibres – wool, silk, cashmere.
Machine-made rugs largely use polypropylene or acrylic – plastic-based yarns.

2.⁠ ⁠Labour
Hand-knotting requires multiple highly skilled weavers.
Each knot is tied manually.
Months of work.

3.⁠ ⁠Process
Dyeing, weaving, washing, finishing all human-driven.

There is no “switch on the machine and let it run.”

📍 You are paying for:
Skill acquired over decades
Time invested over months
Exclusivity
Longevity

It is labour-intensive by design.

4 questions to ask before buying any rug

Most people buying a rug are asking the wrong questions.
Not their fault. Nobody taught them.

Here’s what to ask before you buy any rug – luxury or otherwise.

1.⁠ ⁠What is it made of?
Wool, silk, cotton – natural fibres last longer, age better, and biodegrade.

Polypropylene, polyester – they look good for 2 years and then look nothing.
If the brand can’t tell you exactly, that’s your answer.

2.⁠ ⁠How long is it meant to last?
Not how long it can last under perfect conditions.
How long is it designed to last with normal use?

If it can’t answer a decade, it’s furniture, not a rug.

3.⁠ ⁠Can it be repaired?
A hand-knotted rug can be rewoven, patched, cleaned, restored.
Most machine-made rugs can’t.

Repairability is one of the most underrated markers of quality.

4.⁠ ⁠Who made it and under what conditions?
This question is uncomfortable. Ask it anyway.

A rug made by a skilled weaver earning a fair wage is a different product from one that isn’t.
Your money either supports that or doesn’t.

Conscious buying doesn’t require more money.

It requires better questions.
These four are a good place to start.

The cheapest rug in the room is often the most expensive one.
Let me explain.

A ₹3,000 machine-made rug lasts 3–4 years on average.

The pile flattens. The edges fray. The colours fade unevenly.
Then it goes.

Where?
Most of it into a landfill.

Synthetic fibres don’t biodegrade.
They sit there for decades.

Now consider a hand-knotted wool rug.
Higher upfront cost.

But the structure is built to last 30–40 years.
Natural fibres biodegrade.

If it ever needs repair, it can be repaired.
If it outlives its space, it can be cleaned and reused.

That ₹3,000 rug bought 8 times over 30 years costs more.
In money. In waste. In environmental weight.

Conscious buying isn’t about paying more.
It’s about buying less, more thoughtfully.

The most sustainable product is always the one that doesn’t need replacing.

Travel has shaped my thinking more than any formal design brief ever could.

For me, travel isn’t time away from work.
It’s part of how our work evolves.

When you’re in a different place, surrounded by a different culture, you start noticing things you’d otherwise miss – how people live, how they use space, what feels calm, what feels excessive, what lasts.

We were in hashtag#Amsterdam recently and visited the hashtag#Rijksmuseum.
We saw these incredibly detailed paintings of flowers.

At first, it felt like colour inspiration.
But the longer we looked, the more it became about texture – the depth, the layering, the way paint sat on canvas.

We picked up a book thinking it would help with colours.
It ended up influencing how we think about surface and texture in rugs.

That’s usually how it works.
One observation leads to another.

Travel also gives perspective.
You see how the world is changing.

Post-COVID, one shift stood out clearly:
People want openness. Bigger windows.

More sunlight.
More air.
Homes that feel breathable.

That changes how you think about interiors.
It changes scale, material choices, and how a rug sits within a space – not as decoration, but as part of how a room feels.

For anyone working in a creative field, travel quietly sharpens judgment.
You absorb more than you realise.
And over time, those impressions guide better decisions.

It’s a privilege to travel.
And for me, it remains one of the most honest ways to keep learning.

The reversal of the recent U.S. tariffs is a much-needed relief for the industry.

When the 50% tariff was announced, uncertainty set in immediately.
Orders slowed, buyers paused, and planning became difficult for everyone involved.

At that level, trade simply isn’t sustainable.

What helped us get through that phase was patience and long-term partnerships.
Many U.S. importers and manufacturers absorbed a large part of the cost themselves and chose to wait rather than walk away.

On our end, the priority was clear: to protect livelihoods of our weavers.

During this period, we commissioned 250–300 rugs without any confirmed orders.

It ensured continuous work for our weavers during a time when demand had stalled and uncertainty was high.

If the tariffs had continued much longer, the damage would have been far more severe.

We slowed expansion plans anticipating the slowdown.

Moving from 50% to 18% changes the outlook completely.
Projects that were on hold can move forward.
Investments can restart.
Planning becomes possible again.

This phase tested resilience across the industry.
For now, this shift gives us breathing room and the ability to focus on building again, not just surviving.

“What if something goes wrong after I buy rugs from you ?”

This is the final, unspoken concern clients have.

And it matters.

At Understorey, a rug doesn’t end at delivery.

We guide clients on:
Placement
Care
Washing timelines
Long-term maintenance

And because we control the entire process – from yarn to finishing,
we can stand behind every piece we make.

When you know who made your rug,
you also know who’s accountable for it.

That assurance is part of the product.

📌 P.S. This is the final post in a short series called “Know Your Rug” where I’ll break down the real questions buyers ask me about hand-knotted rugs, from craftsmanship and materials to care, longevity, and value.

If you have more questions around hand knotted rugs, my DMs are always open.

“Will This Rug Last Or Is It Just Decorative?”
Many luxury rugs today are designed to look good quickly.
Not to live long.

We design the opposite way.

At Understorey:

The foundation of a rug is always cotton

The knots are always natural fibres

The structure is built to tighten over time, not loosen

A good rug shouldn’t feel fragile.
It should feel confident.

We often tell clients:
If you’re afraid to use it, it’s not well made.

Our rugs are meant to be walked on, lived with, moved, and inherited.

Aging is not damage.
It’s proof of quality.

📌 P.S. This is the fourth post in a short series called “Know Your Rug” where I’ll break down the real questions buyers ask me about hand-knotted rugs, from craftsmanship and materials to care, longevity, and value.