Rayana Hossain, Founder and Managing Director of ISHO, and Yogesh Chaudhary, Director of Jaipur Rugs, talk about their collaboration and complementary design philosophies to transform the home decor experience in Bangladesh.
ISHO BEGAN AS A WEBSITE AND THEN OPENED OUTLETS IN A VERY SHORT SPAN OF TIME. WHAT CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO ISHO’S SUCCESS?
Rayana Hossain: ISHO commenced its journey as an online furniture brand in 2019. We have been in business for over 2 years now, so we are past the infancy stage. After about six months of operating online, we launched a physical outlet to give people that experience of being able to visualise how their houses can look with our furniture in them. When ISHO started, people were still looking for traditional home settings, and their lifestyles were typically how they used to be pre-pandemic. However, during the pandemic, things completely changed for ISHO, especially because people started shopping more online. Their lifestyles had to be more modernised and they required multi-functional furniture. As more people were working from home, the demand rose for furniture that served both form and function. At that point, ISHO became known as a brand that could suit this new lifestyle.
Founder & Managing Director
ISHO
WHAT INSPIRES THE COLLECTIONS AT ISHO?
Rayana Hossain: All the collections at ISHO are named after places. The inspiration can come from its history or cultural elements, or if the material is sourced from there. For instance, we were inspired by Ratargul to design a series of its namesake using canes that were sourced from Ratargul. Similarly, we have a multi-functional collection called Malmo. It is a homage to Scandinavian designs made popular by the Swedish brand, Ikea. Malmo is actually the birth city of Ikea. We wanted to do something that would pay respect to where this concept originated from.
ISHO IS THE PRECURSOR OF CONTEMPORARY DESIGN IN THE COUNTRY. THEREFORE, ITS COLLABORATION WITH JAIPUR RUGS, WHICH EXUDES A CLASSIC AESTHETIC, SOUNDS VERY INTERESTING. WHAT INSPIRED ISHO TO BLEND THE TWO AESTHETICS TOGETHER?
Rayana Hossain: The philosophy of ISHO and Jaipur Rugs, particularly our perspective on designs, are very similar. Both the companies blend traditional products with modern materials and colour palettes to create a new generation of product lines. In this regard, the synergy between Jaipur Rugs and ISHO will help customers experience home decor products that complement each other.
Director
Jaipur Rugs
HOW HAVE THE CORE VALUES OF JAIPUR RUGS SHAPED THE COMPANY OVER THE YEARS?
Yogesh Chaudhary: Where most businesses make decisions that are profit-driven, Jaipur Rugs takes a different approach. The values, not the profit, guide the decision-making of the business. Adhering to the core values that Jaipur Rugs stands for, we have decided not to produce machine-made carpets, but to support a community of weavers instead. At Jaipur Rugs, the decision to not use a lot of polluting or unsustainable materials comes from the core values that we try to live by as much as we can.
COULD YOU PLEASE TELL US ABOUT THE ARTISANS BEHIND THE CRAFTWORK OF JAIPUR RUGS?
Yogesh Chaudhary: We have different kinds of artisans based on their expertise and contributions. We have about five thousand women turning the wool into yarn on a spinning wheel. Of course, weaving is the most important part of the process and most of our weavers are women who typically work from their homes. It can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 10 months to make a single carpet, depending on the fineness, the quality and the technique. We cover a wide range in the spectrum of rug weaving by coming up with new designs created with the finest, sustainable materials. It can take anywhere from 3 to 4 weeks or even 6 months to train an artisan. We invest a lot of energy and time to train new weavers and give exposure to the existing ones. We are lucky to be working with some of the most talented artisans in India.
Through this collaboration with ISHO, Jaipur Rugs has stepped foot into Bangladesh’s home decor sector. What are your hopes and expectations both in terms of cultural impact and market penetration?
Yogesh Chaudhary: The whole idea of the collaboration is to fulfil a need of the customers and give them good quality products which are very well designed through the great service which ISHO brings in. We hope that this experiment goes very well as I believe we can do a lot more in Bangladesh. Eventually, we want to give the people here as much idea as possible about the design choices that rugs can bring in when it comes to home decor.
www.isho.com
www.jaipurrugs.com