Antique rugs are hundreds of years old. Every single one of them is natural fibre.

Synthetic fibre rugs on the other hand last 3 to 5 years on average. The cheaper ones last one. The pile breaks down. The colour fades unevenly. Then it goes into landfill, where it sits for decades because synthetic fibres do not biodegrade.

Natural wool rugs last generations.
The structure holds. The lanolin in the wool distributes through the pile over years of use. The colour deepens rather than fades. The rug responds to being lived on rather than surrendering to it.

COVER Magazine reported last week that by 2025 synthetic performance fibres have become the majority in the global luxury rug industry.

And simultaneously the IWTO confirmed that 100% wool meets identical commercial durability standards to wool-nylon blends.
Wool does not need synthetic reinforcement. It never did.

The performance argument for synthetic is not about durability.
It is about margin and scalability. And the fact that most buyers cannot tell the difference at the point of purchase.
They find out three years later, when the pile starts to go.

The most expensive rug in your home is the one you keep replacing.

Dyeing is one of, if not the most important part of making a rug.

Here is why.
When someone walks into a room and sees a rug – the very first thing their eye reacts to is colour, not the design or the texture.
Colour.
Design is secondary. Texture comes only after they touch it.

If you get the colour right, you have done 70% of your job.
A colour recipe in our lab can come down to one-tenth of a gram. One-fifth of a gram. That difference is the difference between a grey that sits right and a grey that pulls towards purple or green. Between a brown that warms a room and one that deadens it.

We think about it every single day.
Our dyeing facility has 75 workers. Three head chemists who have been with us for 20 to 30 years. Three in-house labs where we create new colour recipes from scratch – multiple shades every single day.

And we have done this entirely in-house for decades because when colour is the most important thing, we don’t settle for anything but the right shade.

The best moment at The First Layer was the loom.

We set up a small loom at HōmAnAn and let a weaver from Jaipur work through the show exactly as he would in our workshop.

Interior designers, architects, art curators – people who have spent their careers working with beautiful things walked into that room and stopped.

Some of them sat down and tried one knot. Just one.

It took them two minutes to tie 3-4 knots.

Then they would look up at him. He was already thirty knots ahead.

The conversations I had standing in front of that loom were the ones I enjoyed most.

How long does a 9×12 take. What other processes are done by hand. Why it takes the time it takes.

And every single time, watching someone go from curious to genuinely understanding – I felt proud of this craft.

India has craft like this in every corner. Most of it unseen. I got to show a small piece of it to Delhi last week. That feeling does not go away easily.

Every rug, a world of its own.

Everyone wants to own something nobody else has.
At the The First Layer show in Delhi I saw that up close.

The moment people understood what One of a Kind rugs actually means that this specific rug exists once and can never be made again, something changed in them.

I had to tell a few people twice.
That I genuinely cannot recreate it. I can try. The result will never be the same. The method we use to make them ensures that whatever comes out is what it is. Once. That is it.

When that landed the conversation became completely different.

These pieces came from a difficult period. When the tariff situation changed our highest-end weavers were at risk of sitting idle. So we found a way to keep them working – repurposing yarn accumulated over years in our workshop and using a dyeing technique that makes every result unrepeatable.

What makes me most proud about One of a Kind is that this collection exists because we refused to let our finest craftsmen sit idle.

And that the same pieces born out of that decision became the ones Delhi could not stop talking about.

That felt like the right outcome.

Understorey | HōmAnAn

What shaped The First Layer was never just the final installation, but everything that unfolded behind it.

The movement of oversized rugs through the space.
Material studies spread across tables.
Conversations between designers, artisans, stylists, and teams resolving every detail in real time.

What emerged at HōmAnAn X Understorey was built through shared vision, physical process, craftsmanship, and constant collaboration, layer by layer.

As this chapter closes, the space continues to evolve through new installations, objects, and spatial narratives still taking shape within HōmAnAn.

This was only the first layer.

Material-Led Design | Spatial Storytelling | Handcrafted Rugs | Curated Interiors | Artisan Craft | Thoughtful Living | Contemporary Design

Some spaces are remembered through objects.
Others through the feeling they leave behind.

A few moments and conversations from those who experienced The First Layer at HōmAnAn × Understorey, shaped through material, texture, thoughtful living, and the feeling of home.

DM us “CATALOGUE” to explore the collection.

Textile Design | Handwoven Rugs | Material-Led Interiors | Curated Spaces | Spatial Design | Artisan Craft | Thoughtful Living

What happens when two people who care deeply about the same things decide to work together?

The First Layer.

Me and Anubha sat down after the show to talk about what brought Understorey and HōmAnAn together and what came out of it.

Why the collaboration made sense. What the show felt like from the inside. How a beautifully curated space changes the way people see a hand-knotted rug.

Watch the full conversation.

The First Layer was never just about rugs.
It was about texture, materiality, and the way a space could be felt before it was seen.

From woven textiles and handcrafted rugs to sculptural surfaces and layered details, every element was designed to slow people down and draw them closer to the craft.

More than an installation, it became a tactile experience within HōmAnAn, one that invited conversation, warmth, and a deeper way of engaging with the space.

DM us “CATALOGUE” to explore the collection.

Textile Design | Handwoven Rugs | Material-Led Interiors | Artisan Craft | Layered Textures | Curated Spaces | Interior Styling

Not a painting. A rug. ✨
Hand knotted. One knot at a time

Not every rug asked to be looked at.
Some asked to be understood.

At The First Layer, Understorey brought process into the space, from loom to weave, texture to technique, allowing people to experience rugs beyond placement and décor.

Conversations slowed down here. Hands paused on textures. Details became stories.

Thank you to everyone who walked through and experienced the craft so closely with us at HōmAnAn.

DM us “CATALOGUE” to explore the collection.

Textile Design | Handwoven Rugs | Luxury Interiors | Material-Led Design | Interior Styling | Artisan Craft | Curated Spaces

Pure wool. Pure silk.
Pure intent. 🤍