Gwalior, India
Navratan Carpets Pvt. Ltd. is a handmade carpet manufacturer in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, working mainly in the hand knotted tradition the city is known for. Its rugs are made by artisans in and around Gwalior. The catalogue is deepest in hand knotted carpets, with several hundred pieces in art silk viscose on cotton and in wool and silk, and it extends to hand tufted wool carpets, hand loom rugs and gabbas, panja durries, Indo Nepali weaves and shaggy rugs. Panja durries are flat woven and reversible, tightened with the claw shaped panja tool, and are offered in cotton and in wool in bright geometric patterns. The company sells under the Gwalior Handcrafted Carpets geographical indication tag and runs a showroom at Laxmi Ganj with a second office at Kaleen Park on the Sharma Farm Morena link road.
Hand knotted carpets in art silk, which is viscose worked on a cotton foundation to give the softness and sheen of silk. The line is the largest in the catalogue and is listed from about 350 to 3,000 US dollars depending on size.
Hand woven flat weave durries in the Rajasthan and Haryana tradition, tightened with the claw shaped panja tool so the piece is durable and reversible. Navratan lists them in wool on wool, wool on cotton and all cotton at 6 by 9 feet, or 183 by 275 centimetres, in bright geometric patterns.
Wool carpets made by tufting rather than knotting, listed at 400 US dollars in the current range. Hand tufted work runs to about 40 pieces in the catalogue against several hundred hand knotted.
Wool rugs in the hand knotted range, listed between 950 and 1,000 US dollars. Navratan also offers wool and silk combinations priced from 1,200 to 3,000 US dollars.
Hand loom rugs and gabbas form a small line of about ten pieces in the Navratan catalogue. They are worked on a loom rather than knotted, which gives a flatter and lighter surface than the hand knotted carpets.
A single shaggy rug line sits alongside the Indo Nepali weave in the Navratan catalogue. Shaggy construction gives a long open pile, in contrast to the close cropped surface of the hand knotted carpets.
4 recorded shipments · first shipment 2013 · latest shipment Jan 2016 · buyers include Bokhara Carpet Palace, Bokhara Carpet Place Ltd