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Nand Kishore
Chaudhary, the owner of Jaipur Carpets in Jaipur, an
important rug market, relies on a network of weavers in
villages throughout Rajasthan to produce the rugs he
sells, mostly for export. We found Chaudhary through a
photo credit in the book "Indian Carpets: A Hand Knotted
Heritage," by Asha Rani Mathur, which we bought in a
hotel gift shop.
There's no sign in front of the new three-story building
his business occupies in the middle of a dusty
industrial district, a 20-minute drive from the center
of Jaipur. On the way there, we observed people toting
rugs and skeins of yarn on the backs of bicycles and
motorcycles, and the ubiquitous sacred cows, which share
the streets throughout India.
Jaipur Carpets is a beehive of activity, with workers in
a central atrium putting the finishing touches on
carpets delivered from the villages. Designs are
computer-generated versions of classical patterns, in
the reds, blues, greens and golds that appeal to Western
tastes. In the showroom, Chaudhary offered us Indian
hospitality — tea, cookies and nuts — without any of the
hard sell, and he had an ideal solution to our quest for
hallway runners: rugs made to our dimensions.
As the pricing structure suggests, knot count is one
indication of the value of a rug. Rugs with higher knot
counts and a tighter weave (visible by looking at the
back side of a rug) involve more work and are generally
more expensive. Although there are no absolute measures
of what an Oriental carpet is worth, one of moderate
quality would typically have a knot count of about 300
knots per square inch.
To some extent, knot count depends on the pattern — a
more intricate one tends to require more knots — and
knot count alone shouldn't dictate a purchase. For
example, although the runners we ordered had relatively
low knot counts, we chose them based on other measures
of value: the rugs' good-quality wool, colors, designs
and overall attractiveness. We also liked the fact that
they were durable enough for high-traffic areas and well
priced for nonstandard sizes.
Although bargaining is part of the Indian culture,
Chaudhary had the home-court advantage. We had spent two
hours making our selections, and he knew we weren't
prepared to walk away from the purchase. He wouldn't
budge on price.
Still, he agreed to terms that were more important to
us: payment by credit card, no charge until the rugs
arrived in the Atlanta wholesale store his daughter
runs, free shipping and the right to return the rugs
from New York to Atlanta for any reason (at our expense)
and get a full refund.
Article Source:
http://www.travel.latimes.com
By :-
Deborah L. Jacobs , April 16, 2006 |
