HANDKNOTTED RUGS

Though carpet weaving skill (hand knotted) is 2500 year old but it took root in India during 16^th century. By the end of 19th century Bhadohi carpet industry got a fillip only when orders for knotted rugs started trickling from United Kingdom. By the mid 20th century, other countries of Europe and North America came calling and the carpet business got a wing. Since then the trade have been souring barring a few years of lows in 1990s.

To day, besides knotted rugs, other weaves – Tibetan, Tufted, Loom, Flat weave – are also have set their base here about which you will get info later.

A knotted rug, especially with high quality, has always been the choice of elites and still has the pride of place simply because; it takes months and high skilled artisans to produce it.

The given picture is of quality Persian design rug having 180 knots per sq inch the materials used are cotton for back and its pile is a blend of pure wool and pure silk. The quality is always available but you have to check the availability of design or choose from other designs that are readily available. For more, Click Here

For The Common Good

During seventies and eighties the Indian handmade carpet industry had a sizzling pace of growth. Massive demand for carpets from western shores outpaced the supply because the huge demand led to shortage of weavers.

Resultant there was huge influx of labor from the neighboring states. To exploit the opportunity extensively, child labor too was brought in droves.

Thanks to a few activists, this horrifying reality came into light in the later part of the eighties.

The terrible news got wings and spread like wild fire which reached to countries of the west which were the chief consumers of this craft.

Carpet importers became wary and as a precautionary measure started asking for affirmation that the carpets being supplied are free from child labor.

But the damage has already been done.

The industry which was going at a fast clip saw sharp drop in its export simply because magic of media reached even to consumers who avoided buying handmade Indian carpets.

IKEA, a Sweden based multinational, which bought Indian rugs in great quantities, found itself in a tight spot.

At one point in time it was about to stop sourcing carpets from India but good sense prevailed and it decided to bring discipline into its Indian suppliers.

Thus I-Way (Ikea-Way) came into existence which required that its suppliers should follow the norms set in its I-Way - norms which required abide by not only tenets spelled in its I-Way but Indian labor law should also be adhered.

No doubt, besides Ikea, there appeared many non-profit organizations (NGOs) who are still working for the elimination and rehabilitation of child labor of this industry.

But the greatest catalyst of them all, I believe, was Ikea and its I-Way, which was very effective in making the general public aware of the abuse and making the Indian carpet dealers' observant with the vulnerability to the trade from this immoral practice.

Many manufacturers even got themselves registered with organizations such ISO and other Social Compliance Audits

Undeniably these measures contributed considerably to fight the abuse of child labor from this industry but the problem is still prevalent not insignificantly.

Problem still exist simple because carpet industry is cottage industry and is spread deep into the unapproachable hinterlands.

In fact, I believe, that active involvement of the whole industry can prove effective to wipe the problem from its root.

The idea is that each manufacturer worth its salt must take up a social cause that is targeted for the welfare of deprived children.

At this end, we at AAFRIIINZ intend to adopt the village Nai Bazar - a village where we live-in - with the objective of taking its people in confidence.

This undertaking, we believe, becomes possible if our approach is value based - if we are able to make people aware with the values of life - that is caring, sharing and sensitive to social mores.

If we are sincere, it won't be hard to make these simple folks to partner for this common cause.

May be we prove ourselves an example to be followed by others.

And, of course we would like that our audience be a part of this problem-solution process to and send their suggestions if they feel like so.

Happy Independent Day

On August 15, , India was celeberating Indian Independent Day but how the British media covered this occsion is worth noting.

Mainstream British newspaper have been running 'India at 60' series', while the The Times, London produced an special India supplement and The Gaurdian devoted its entire feature pull out to "The New India".

The Gaurdian India Special's theme was expressed by its cover headline that announced:

"This is the best place in the world to be born right now"

The Indepent's attempted to answer the question

"60 years after partition, why is India is doing so much better than Pakistan"

The pape said, "Now at the age of 60 , India's image is that of an resurgent, confident regional power racing to compete with China and the West".

India is getting appreciated all over the world and this is a matter of great jubilation. What according to Times of India, we lack is real 'LEADERS'. For which its "LEAD INDIA" innitiative 'India seeks her future leader' is a step in right direction.

Let us hope that Indian carpet industry too grows with leaps and bounds in the times to come.

Heart of Design

Design is everything and the heart of design is its color. Right colors help sell a product better. The question is how to get the right colors?

One of the most wanted source for color is US based  HYPERLINK http://www.colormarketing.org Color Marketing Group (CMG) whose color palettes are hot favorite all over the world. CMG relies on its 1000 plus color experts, designers and pigment specialists. “These experts gather twice a year in the US and then twice a year abroad where they examine the sociological, economic and political trends influencing life all over the world,” so says Bobby Schlesinger, spokesperson for CMG, the world leading authority on color trends.

Schlesinger says that two years back CMG predicted some colors that are hot favorite today. Among the colors they predicted were the botanical greens and the earth-toned neutrals, the deep, classic, ethnic red and oranges.

Color consultant Latika Khosla in Mumbai, who heads Freedom Tree Design, finds Indian manufacturers are beginning to get curious about color forecasting. “They are going beyond listening to just a handful of designers who’d choose some pretty colors.” Says Khosla, co-chair, Asia Pacific Rim, CMG. Manufacturers and brand owners in India are beginning to see their products need to be in sync with the color trends to crack open western export market” she says,

Orange, red, pink – these vibrant Indian colors are getting hot favorite among fashion and design circuits. CMG advises manufacturers for keeping an eye out for pink. Aqua ferozi trend is also in the market.

Many Indian carpet manufacturers get their designs and colors from their buyers. These buyers, most probably, keep a sharp watch on the trends and choose colors that syncs well with the fashion. But there are many who develop there own design. I hope the Indian Carpetwallahs too keep a close watch on the international color trend that goes well with rest of the world.

Source:  HYPERLINK http://www.businessworld.in/content/view/1589/1649/ "

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Kaleej Times reports that

Iran unveils “world’s largest carpet” for UAE

To see the full report Click Here_

Social Orientation

In the recent past, there has been a welcome quality change in
the outlook among the Indian carpet dealers. Started by Anisa
Carpets Limited, who were the first to apply for a certificate in
handmade carpet industry for
Social Accountability from BSI and got it only last year which
is proudly displayed in their Bhadohi and London office.

A few months back I met Indra Mohan Srivastava, Management
Consultant of Constraarch - Mansys, who told me that many
carpet exporters have applied for this certificate in recent
past and SA 8000 certificates will be bestowed to them
in the near future. 

Indra Mohan told me that Consraarch has two offices in
Uttar Pradesh, one in Moradabad and other in Lucknow.
He further told me that Contraarch are enlisted consultant
with New York Based Social Accountability International (SAI)
and without their recommendation this certificate can not
be issued. He visits Bhadohi often to complete the cases
and also to market this service.  

I believe this is a very welcome sign and hope that more
and more carpet dealers will get connected to this and
ISO. They shouldn't only get connected to it just to observe
the by laws set by BSI but they are needed to go some
extra miles. 

There are many justifiable reasons for taking that extra
mile. One genuine reason is that we are carrying with
us a stigma - stigma of child labor - on our shoulder for
over a decade. I believe by going that extra mile will
help us mitigate this dishonor.  

We need an image makeover. That is possible only
when we prepare ourselves for going that extra
distance. SA 8000 and ISO can help us greatly for
that image change.  

We have already suffered greatly. No one believes
us if we say that our carpets are free from child labor.
For over a decade we are using labels declaring that
carpets being exported are free from child labor.
When will we get rid of this practice? Perhaps,
SA 8000 has come our way as a blessing in disguise.
It, most probably, is going help us get rid of our
tarnished image. Won't it?

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Notable note:

Do you know that Sachin Tendulakar's total
tax exemtion was Rs. 8.87 crore during
1998-99 and 2004-05?

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On Anvil: Relief For Exporters

Fast appreciation of rupee has hit hard to the Indian exporters. Most of the exporters make their invoice in dollar term as such they are losing more than 8 per cent.

Exports grew at a very healthy rate for the last three years however, it seems exports are decelerating. According to the all India figure, released by Department of Commerce, export growth has decelerated to 5.2% in January, 7.8% in February and 8.84% in March 2007 and, no one has any doubt that the single most decelerator is the appreciation of rupee.

An internal study conducted by the Commerce Ministry reveals that the textile industry, one of the largest employment generators in the country, appears to be severely hit by the hardening of rupee.

What is true with textile industry is also true for carpet industry because most of our exports are price sensitive and mostly invoiced in US dollar. In that situation it would be hard to meet the target set by carpet exporters.

Government is deliberating to find mechanism to offset the losses to exporters. Support packages are on its way and are expected to be cleared within a month. The packages that are on the anvil are: refund of certain taxes; reducing premium on insurance cover on exports; reducing ECGC premium rate by 10%; enhance duty drawback by 5% and rates of duty neutralization schemes like Duty Entitlement Pass Book; reducing interest rate on pre and post shipments to 6%; paying interest on Exchange Earner’s Foreign account; Service Tax exemption etc.

In the last two month the rupee has risen by 13% which is having an impact on orders besides it is also causing employment loss. It is expected that export will dip drastically if these measures are not taken immediately.

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Enjoy the video: Rjnikant Ka Baap