Kerala carpet steals limelight at Met Gala

While the likes of Bollywood celebrities Alia Bhatt and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, impressed with their ensembles at the Met Gala 2023, the iconic carpet that these celebrities walked on, created a buzz too. It was made by an Indian company.

The team of Neytt by Extraweave, based in Cherthala, Alappuzha, Kerala, took around 60 days to manufacture the carpet. Cofounded by Sivan Santhosh and wife Nimisha Srinivas, the carpet company created 58 rolls of 30x4 m. It was roughly around 7,000 sq m.

The company uses sustainable practices while creating products. “The carpet was manufactured using sisal fibre — a special one imported from Madagascar. It is the whitest and best quality fibre available,” says Sivan.

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The order happened through Neytt’s longtime customer Fibre Works, whom they have associated with for other projects.

“They connected us with the design team of the Met Gala. The criteria was to give them a good canvas to paint on. The colourful elements and serpentine lines seen on it were hand-painted by artists in New York,” he explains.

The brand, which makes bespoke carpets, has created products for projects in India and abroad, for hotels and celebrity homes. “We supplied rugs to actor Sonam Kapoor’s house in London, actor Nisha Agarwal’s house, the Suryagarh Palace in Jaisalmer, and hotels like Taj Madikeri,” he says.

The carpet company has also supplied carpets to the White House and the Buckingham Palace for special events.

Making process

A lot of people were involved in the entire manufacturing process and “every department played a crucial role in making sure that the carpet was flawless”, says Sivan.

After the material was sourced (which was in a raw form), it went through blending and separation, where the best of the white fibre was sorted.

“Then it went through the process of spinning, where the fibre was converted to yarn. This is followed by shearing where all the protruding smaller fibres of the yarn are cut off and made smooth. The process of winding is where the yarn was converted to bobbins which was fed to bigger looms, where the carpet was woven,” he elaborates.

Second stint

This is the second time the company has made the carpet for the Met Gala. In 2022, they created a dark red carpet.

This is the first time a light coloured carpet was used for the Met Gala. “The team wanted a lighter palette and we decided on beige. It was easier to hand-paint and also fell in line with the theme, which was a tribute to designer Karl Lagerfeld,” he says.

Challenges faced

Since 58 rolls had to be created, the team had to ensure that all processes were followed to the T.

“All the rolls have to look the same. They had to be the same shade. Also, since all the celebrities wear heels, the weave had to be tight,” Sivan says explaining the
most important detail the team had to be mindful of.

Sustainability route

The company focuses on treating and recycling all the water used in the dyeing process.

“Our entire factory runs on solar power. We don’t use plastic in any of our facilities, apart from the recycled PET and PP yarns, which are recycled from plastic bottles,” he adds.