Agra, India
Kalras Cottage Industry is a hand knotted carpet producer and exporter in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, founded in 1984 as a production and export unit. Krishan Kalra, from a family of weavers who came to Agra from Lahore at Partition, started the business with two home looms and a retail outlet of 600 square feet. His son Sanjay Kalra took the firm into its second generation and opened the flagship showroom in the 1990s, a space of 18,000 square feet holding more than 6,000 carpets. Production runs through about 1,400 artisans and 750 families weaving in home based cottages, a workforce of roughly 2,000 people. The range covers woollen and silk hand knotted carpets and handicrafts in Indo Persian and Mughal designs, including reproductions of antique carpets. The company is a member of the Carpet Export Promotion Council, the Indian Ministry of Textiles body for carpet exporters, under membership number 7005.
Hand knotted woollen carpets, hand knotted silk carpets, antique carpet reproductions, custom carpets, handicrafts
Carpets hand knotted in wool on looms around Agra, in Indo Persian and Mughal designs. Weaving is done by around 1,400 artisans and 750 families working in home based cottages.
Silk carpets hand knotted at fine knot counts. Designs follow Indo Persian and Mughal sources.
Reproductions of antique carpet designs, hand knotted to order in wool or silk. The company has specialised in this work since 1984.
Carpets hand knotted to a buyer's own size, colourway and design. Produced through the same cottage weaving network as the standing ranges.