JTN Rugs & Home

‘At JTN we have our own individual way of undertaking every process of rug making, from the material blends we use, to the dyeing processes and the washing of the rugs. It is all done in-house. This means our rugs have a very distinctive aesthetic.’

Sanjay Purohit

Sanjay Purohit launched JTN Rugs & Home in 2018, debuting the rug and home accessories brand at The Rug Show New York at the city’s Javits Center in August that year. Purohit is a well-known and well-respected name on the rug circuit having worked for many prominent rug suppliers and manufacturers over the past thirty years.

Today, as well as running JTN from New Jersey, Purohit represents London-based Knots Rugs in America and, since 2019, has worked as Director of Carpet Sales for the NGO Turquoise Mountain. Added to this, Purohit has just announced a collaboration with SN Kapoor Exports, the results of which are sure to have the market enthralled.

The production lines that JTN carries originate from a long time prior to the brand debut four years ago. The rugs are formulated out of a kind of alchemy, a magical process that sees materials such as wool and silk come to life through a series of techniques and treatments. The well-perfected production processes are all done in-house, from spinning and dyeing wool, to weaving and then washing and finishing the rugs. All processes are also unique to this production, including its proprietary blends of yarn, the eight-step washing process and the special method of over-dyeing, which was developed over ten years ago. JTN is working with around thirty different qualities, twelve of which are top sellers. It is hard to keep up with demand.

‘We don’t just use New Zealand wool or Ghazni wool, we use a special blend of materials. It could be wool, it could have some silk, linen or hemp in it. We have eight to ten different silks that we use in our blends. It absorbs colour and light differently and makes the surface of the rug look very unique.’

Sanjay Purohit

‘My design library features thousands of designs,’ comments Purohit. ‘In much of our production the rugs are one-offs, not programmed.’ For Purohit, each of his one-off designs is a piece of art. In one collection the brand literally hand-painted the rugs, which feature clear brushstrokes.

In design DD211/23550 the wool shines and looks almost like a glistening tiger skin while in ACC38/P1445 the multitude of colours and complex overlaid patterns in the 100% wool rug creates great vitality.

The wool, linen and silk blend in DD12/21575 also brings visual texture to the design while the strong colour washes offer a layered effect and a vintage look. A similar blend of materials creates a lively abrash effect on the simple, contemporary design of DD122/22738.

There is a great sense of depth created in designs like the silk and wool DD128/22811, the zero-pile wool AC228/24979 and in the silk and wool AJ493/22877, through the use of colour and overlaid patterns and in the latter, the use of oxidisation to create a unique patina.

Business has been good for JTN and Purohit despite the pandemic. As well as the SN Kapoor project, Purohit is also looking forward to developing ways to make some of his unique rugs into semi-programmable designs. He is also looking at producing hand-loomed rugs using the same material blends, washing and dyeing processes, so they can be woven faster and cheaper, but without compromising on the brand’s signature textures and colours.

‘Looking ahead we are hoping to be able to increase our high-end production to keep up with the demand. We are also trying to lean further into the idea of reinterpreting traditional designs for more traditional and contemporary settings.’

Sanjay Purohit

While design and colour speak volumes, vital to every sophisticated high-end rug is a tactile and visual texture that engages and enthrals the hand and eye. JTN Rugs & Home designs offer a unique aesthetic that certainly enraptures us all.

JTN Rug & Home

E-mail: sanjay@jtnhome.com