What goes into making a one-of-a-kind hand-knotted rug?

The Art of Spontaneity

Manchaha means a heart’s desire. As its name suggests, each rug celebrates the art of storytelling. With no template or design, a weaver weaves each carpet with the ideas they create from the hopes and dreams of a story in their mind. These are spontaneously designed and hand-knotted by rural weavers with up-cycled leftover yarn or raw material returned from the loom. Each Manchaha rug is a poetic narration of the everyday lives and emotions of its makers. By transforming scraps of waste material into a beautiful expression of life, each Manchaha rug personifies transcendence—going beyond a challenge to become something completely new. This epitomises the meaning behind Asian Paints’ Colour of the Year, Transcendent Pink, which quietly encourages the power of embracing change.

The Inspiration Behind ‘Sangam’

“I was mesmerised by the gushing river and steady flow of water,” recalls Lakshmi, who conceptualised ‘Sangam’—which means confluence. Inspired by a visit to the banks of the Ganges, a design of two intermingling rivers features prominently in the centre of the rug. Dyed in Asian Paints’ Colour of the Year—a grey-hued purple with blue and red undertones—the carpet echoes a landscape dotted with scenes from rural India. Each motif is inspired by nature, displaying patterns symbolising fields, crops and raindrops. The carpet also featured drops of bindis to pay homage to the decorative mark typically worn by women in the village on the centre of their forehead.

Meet the Craftswoman

‘Sangam’ has been conceptualised by Lakshmi, a craftswoman from Kishanpura, Jaipur. The art of weaving has been passed down for generations in her family—a craft she learnt from her mother, which she started practising when she was 15. Today, at 45, she lovingly hand-knotted this rug—which spans eight feet across its length and breadth—to symbolise the spirit of braving transformations and embracing challenges.