Jaipur Rugs’ new flagship at Mumbai’s historic Empire Mills turns a former textile hub into an immersive craft narrative. Collaborating with Roar, the brand preserves Victorian industrial architecture while showcasing rugs like gallery pieces and live weaving demonstrations. The space connects Mumbai’s mill legacy with Jaipur’s rug traditions, highlighting provenance, artisanship and global design ambitions.
Before Mumbai's Lower Parel became synonymous with swanky glass towers, it was part of Girangaon, Mumbai’s “village of mills”. Rows of cotton mills stood across central Bombay, making the city one of India’s most important textile centres. By the end of the 19th century, Bombay had more than 70 mills; by the early 20th century, the wider mill district had become home to a dense ecosystem of factories, workers’ housing and neighbourhood institutions.
Sure, the industry has since unravelled with the advent of technology. Yet, the mill compounds still stand tall today, Empire Mills being one of them. It is here that Jaipur Rugs opened its first flagship store in Mumbai.
"Opening at Empire Mills was less about building a retail store and more about earning the right to inhabit a piece of Mumbai’s history," explains Jaipur Rugs' managing director, Yogesh Chaudhary. “The challenge was to preserve the soul of the 125-year-old structure while creating an environment that felt contemporary, immersive and unmistakably Jaipur Rugs.”
This became the starting point for the project. For a building that was so deeply knit into the history of Mumbai, the team had to create a space that took you to the rug-making traditions of Jaipur without leaving Mumbai behind.
The store was developed in a collaborative effort with Pallavi Dean's Dubai-based multidisciplinary design studio, Roar. Instead of creating a new visual identity and applying it to an old building, the team began by considering what was already there.
"We were very conscious that the architecture already had a powerful narrative of its own,” Pallavi understood that brief exceptionally well. Rather than imposing a design language on the space, the approach was to listen to the building, preserve its industrial character and allow our rugs and craftsmanship to become part of the architecture.”
This idea is visible the moment you walk in. Step into the 20,000-square-foot space, and beyond the entrance foyer, you are greeted with rugs displayed as if in an art gallery. Overhead, the industrial layout of the mill looks down on you. The Victorian-era steel structures that made up the original building are still intact. So is the clerestory glazing that helps bring natural light into the compound.
That is not to say that the Mill is all that the store is. Little translucent birds hang down from these very industrial ceilings almost like futuristic origami. A handbarrow here, a bison there, all draped in traditional motifs used in Jaipur, add a touch of the rustic to the store. Beyond retail and display, the flagship also has material and weaving demonstrations for visitors to understand the techniques that go into the making of these rugs.
"We were not approaching this as a conventional retail fit-out," says Chaudhary. "We wanted the store to demonstrate that a rug is not simply a product placed on a floor; it is an object of craft, culture and human expression.
You don't simply walk into the store; you enter a narrative about India, its craft traditions and how those traditions can be reimagined for a global audience."
Speaking of a global audience, why Mumbai? And why now? Jaipur Rugs has what can be called a truly global audience. Yogesh's father, Nand Kishore Chaudhary, founded the brand under the name Bharat Carpet Enterprise in 1978; he started exporting his rugs as early as 1986. Today, Jaipur Rugs has its business spread across more than sixty countries, with flagships across Milan, Dubai and Singapore. Earlier this year, they launched the Faces Collection in collaboration with visionary Japanese architect Kengo Kuma at Milan Design Week 2026.
For Yogesh, Mumbai has always been a city where India meets the world. "It has an extraordinary relationship with design, culture, commerce and entrepreneurship, making it a natural home for the next chapter of Jaipur Rugs.”
Beyond that, however, Mumbai’s luxury consumer, he believes, is increasingly interested in what sits behind the object: where it comes from, who made it and what gives it value beyond its price tag. “India today is experiencing a deeper appreciation for provenance, craftsmanship and design,” he says. “Consumers are increasingly looking beyond the object itself to understand who made it, how it was made and what story it carries.”
For Jaipur Rugs, this plays into one of its longstanding beliefs about handmade craft.
“I started with a very simple belief that a carpet could become a bridge between two worlds: the world of the artisan who creates it and the world of the person who eventually lives with it,” explains founder NK Chaudhary. “In the early days, we were building a business. Over time, we realised we were building something much larger, a community and a way of working in which craftsmanship could create dignity, opportunity and a sense of ownership for artisans.
“That, to me, is the real journey of Jaipur Rugs. We have grown from a carpet enterprise into a platform where craft, design and human potential come together.”
For NK Chaudhary, the Mumbai flagship is a statement of where Jaipur Rugs stands today, but not necessarily a blueprint for what comes next. “This space is a statement of who we are today, our respect for heritage, our belief in contemporary design and, most importantly, our belief that a handmade rug deserves to be experienced rather than merely displayed. But the next space should ask different questions. It should respond to its city, its architecture and its people.”
As Jaipur Rugs approaches 50 years in 2028, that idea of evolution becomes even more significant. “What excites me most is the possibility of taking Indian craftsmanship into the future without taking away its soul.
The world is changing rapidly, and technology is transforming almost every industry. Yet I believe there will always be a human desire for things that carry authenticity, individuality and meaning. The opportunity for Jaipur Rugs is to show that tradition does not have to live in the past. It can be a source of innovation.
An artisan working with a loom today can be part of a global design conversation tomorrow. A craft rooted in a village can influence how the world thinks about luxury, sustainability and creativity.”