By Buying Hand-Woven Rugs You Help Kids Get Education

Katrin

Interview with Jessica Kulakowski, founder of Rugs For Good.  Rug For Good has a very unique approach they believe in a fair and equitable society whereby everyone should have access to the same opportunities. They decided to support children with their education and give 100% of their profits from hand-woven rugs sales to the Not-for-Profit organization Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project.

Hi Jessica, so happy to have you here. I am very grateful to interview you for our interior design magazine Being. Can you, please, introduce yourself and your brand? 

Jessica

I’m Jess, the Founder of Rugs For Good. RFG is a rug social enterprise that donates 100% of its profit to the Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project in India. I started Rugs For Good with my laptop during my 4-month-old son’s nap times while I was on maternity leave. After watching the Netflix documentary ‘Daughters of Destiny’ I felt inspired to contribute to their children’s project. So I learned how to build a website, I created a Facebook & Instagram account and then I slowly began sourcing rugs to sell. I already had rug company/manufacturing contacts from my family business that I’d worked in since I was a teen, so I just started with a product I already knew well. Initially, it was just a little side project to raise funds for the Shanti Bhavan Children’s charity but it was so well received by Australians that it grew very rapidly.

We are just under 3 years old, it’s been a wild ride but such a purposeful and fulfilling one. I still pinch myself, because never in my wildest dreams did I think this humble little website I built myself would lead to such incredible outcomes. It has proven to me that human beings are generous and kind.

They love supporting a good cause and the benefit of Rugs For Good is that they can do that and get a beautiful hand-woven rug for their home in the process. It’s a win-win!

Katrin

Can you share more about Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project?

Jessica

Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project is the whole reason behind why I started Rugs For Good. When my son was 4 months old, I watched the Netflix documentary series ‘Daughters of Destiny’ which is about Shanti Bhavan. I was so incredibly moved and inspired by the work that Shanti Bhavan is doing helping rescue children from poverty in India, that I felt compelled to raise money to support the charity. If you haven’t watched the documentary, I highly recommend it. It’s eye-opening but also so heartwarming. Shanti Bhavan is a registered Not-for-Profit organization that empowers children from India’s lowest socio-economic class to break the cycle of generational poverty through education, leadership, and compassion. 100% of our profits go towards supporting Shanti Bhavan to continue the life-changing work that they do and to help them raise enough funds to build a second school. This was 3 years ago and now Shanti Bhavan has made me director of their Australian charity chapter so I can support them even more. It’s such an honor and I take this role very seriously because I know what incredible work they are doing. I would have never thought, that sleep deprived with a 4-month-old and my 8-year-old laptop could have made such an impact. It just shows what the power of purpose can achieve. 

Katrin

Do you have any interesting, curious facts about your brand?

It takes approximately 25 days for 2-3 rug weavers to weave one single rug using 16th-century rug-making techniques.

Jessica

1. Our Slow Weave Collection is our signature collection designed by myself. I’ve developed a passion for natural rugs design and making (I don’t make them of course). From conception, the sourcing of the materials, the spinning of the wool, the weaving, and the photography, I’m obsessed with the whole process.  

2. It takes approximately 25 days for 2-3 rug weavers to weave one single rug using 16th-century rug-making techniques. 

3. Our Kula hand-woven rug was designed by a beautiful artisanal community of women in Uttar Pradesh, India. They came to us with a design concept for a hand-knitted wool rug that we absolutely fell in love with! They were incredibly proud of their design and together lovingly our Kula hand-woven rugs. This is why we named this rug the ‘Kula’ rug, as Kula is a Sanskrit word that translates to ‘community, tribe or clan’.! 

Katrin

What is your company vision?

Our vision is to raise as much money as we can for Shanti Bhavan so that they can support more children in India.

Jessica

Our vision is to raise as much money as we can for Shanti Bhavan so that they can support more children in India. We also will be more active in managing the Australian Chapter of the charity to help spread the word about the incredible work Shanti Bhavan is doing.

Katrin

Which exact materials do you use for your products?  

Jessica

We use a variety of materials for our hand-woven rugs. Mostly cotton,  wool, recycled cotton/yarn, Recycled PET, and polyester. We also have a collection of machine-made polypropylene rugs. We have something for everyone, however, our passion lies in keeping traditional rug weaving techniques alive by focusing on artisan-made hand-woven rugs. Our slow weave collection embodies this passion. It encapsulates the core of our ethics and values at Rugs for Good. Made in small batches to ensure that the artisans are provided with long-term, sustainable work rather than short and large bursts. This is to support our beloved artisans who create these beautiful pieces of art. We only work with one group of weavers – not multiple factories. This collection is of the highest ethical standard in the rug industry.

Katrin

I am curious to know more about the production process too.   

Jessica

We actually have a great outline of the process on our website here.

Katrin

Are you shipping just across Australia? Or all over the world? 

Jessica

Only in Australia for now, however, we hope to expand all over the world soon. We have people from all over the world contacting us however shipping internationally during a pandemic has been problematic.

Katrin

I want to ask a personal question. Which profession did you dream about when you were a kid?

Jessica

I wanted to be a journalist (a war correspondent specifically), then I wanted to be a diplomat. I’ve always been driven by social justice, ever since I was a little girl. I ended up studying International Relations & Anthropology at University, then I did my Masters in Social Work. Now, this! 

Katrin

I believe together we can change the world for the better. Do you?:) What is your personal view on the future of our planet? 

Jessica

Absolutely! I started Rugs For Good as a social enterprise to not only raise funds for a wonderful cause but also to show that both big and small businesses can help change the world.