GoodWeave certified for the promise of ethical production that supports local communities, Riviera Home crafts natural carpets by hand with a conscious effort to minimise environmental impact.
For nearly four decades, Riviera Home has been making carpets in India’s historic city of Panipat, known as ‘the city of handcrafted weavers’. Using traditional techniques, its carpets are still made by hand using natural yarns, including undyed wools, bamboo and Tencel, which is made with wood pulp from sustainable forests.
GoodWeave International is a non-profit organisation and the leading institution working to stop child labour in global supply chains. As a GoodWeave business, every handmade carpet from Riviera Home is produced without child labour and supports education and decent work for communities.
‘We’ve been hand-making carpets using natural yarns since we were founded, so we’ve been adopting a low-impact approach to production for nearly 40 years. Still as a family-run company, we’re conscious that the way we make carpets does not just have minimal impact on the climate and the environment, but it also the supports the communities around us. Our GoodWeave certification is an example of this in action, as it’s our promise to produce carpets fairly and ethically, to support education and ensure that no child is forced into labour,’ says Kuldeep Singla, Riviera Home UK chairman.
While Riviera Home’s by-hand approach to making carpets is the antithesis of mass production, it still draws on modern practices to lower its environmental impact, such as only using Oeko-Tex approved chemicals; generating 20% of its electricity from its own solar field, and conserving water through its own treatment and recycling plant.
‘While our ways of craft may be traditional and passed down through generations of families, it doesn’t mean we can’t look to modern innovations to reduce the impact of what we’re doing. It’s important to us that our carpets are not just considered for their fine quality, but also because they offer a better way of making carpets through a lower environmental footprint,’ says Richard Moore, Riviera Home UK sales and marketing director.
