Media Coverage
Explorug / Alternative Technology: The 1 m2-Showroom
carpet! magazine, 2020
Just one Smart TV on one small table – that’s ba-sically all you need to create a small showroom for custom-order carpets. Along with a few rug samples and physical colour references, of course. The Explorug software by Alternative Technology will effectively visualise the rug possibilities so customers can make an informed decision before placing an order

Local Impact Design: best global practices
Universidad Iberoamericana Journal, 2019
How can design have a positive impact in local communities and economies? Several groups, universities, and incubators are now working in local impact projects all over the world, creating local brands and sustainable productive chains with projects that are merging teaching, research and professional activities. This paper evaluates some local impact projects in different countries and continents such as Brazil, India and Ghana delineating a methodology that can be replicated.

Trying out custom-made rugs before ordering
carpet! magazine, 2020
Explorug is an ideal tool for online rug shops, and the links to your individual designs can also be included into social media posts for customisation. Of course, Explorug can also be used in-store when showing diferent possibilities on-screen to the walkin customers.

The Showroom of the future
RugInsider, 2020
Reducing wasteful sampling is a fundamental necessity owing to both the pending climate crisis and the relative financial health of the hand-knotted rug industry.

Spray through the Ages
RugInsider, 2018
So while it is that Gardner has updated Spray for 2017, we at RUG INSIDER, working in partnership with Emma Gardner Design and Tamarian in collaboration with Alternative Technology, invite you to "join the conversation" via an exclusive look at what custom colorization can look like through our interactive feature found here: http://ruginsider.com/egdspray

Study Tours to Politecnico di Milan
G D Goenka University, 2016
Some students also used a special carpet design software called ‘Galaincha’ to render their designs for a realistic look. It was a proud moment when the owners expressed their delight with the outcome of the workshop.

Modern Carpet Design | Galaincha
The Ruggist, 2016
Galaincha is a software program designed specifically for the handmade rug industry to improve efficiencies and accuracy, decrease wastage, and improve the ability of carpet designers to produce more detailed rugs and carpets. According to a survey conducted by Galaincha, 100% of rug industry respondents agree that the ‘majority’ of the Nepali rug industry’s graphs are now done on computer.

The Jan Kath Collection of Carpets
Nuvo Magazine, 2014
"I wouldn't consider myself an artist," he says, "but I've consumed a lot of art over the years and I remember things when I see them." In his Bochum headquarters, a team pours his concepts into InDesign, Photoshop, and Galaincha (a carpet design software), and then sends them to the weavers (in places like Nepal, Thailand, Morocco, Turkey) electronically. (Kath has added to his global showroom roster, opening his first Canadian address in Vancouver this past October.)

Traditional carpet weaving MASTERING COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY
Turkiston-press, 2014
Classes were conducted by national experts together with foreign experts. They were attended by manufacturers of handmade carpets, designers, teachers and students of the National Institute of Arts and Design Kamoliddin Behzod. They got the skills necessary for the production of handmade carpets using high technology, in particular, a special computer program Galaincha.

Tashkent hosts training on modern production of carpet
UZ Daily, 2014
During the training, local and foreign specialists discussed carpet designs, production, use of high technologies, including Galaincha software. The software is effective and convenient tool for designing, visualization, dyeing and production of the carpets. The software allows to rate use of materials and determine the prime cost of the ready goods.

Computer technology in carpet weaving
http://jahonnews.uz/, 2014
Uzbekistan Masters patterns will be trained under the guidance of coaches - specialists in working with this program Puzha Shrestha and Padma Tuladhar, who are invited to Tashkent representative of the German Society for International Cooperation.

Tashkent to host training in computer technology in carpet weaving
http://anons.uz, 2014
In the capital of Uzbekistan, 14-28 February will be training in the use of special software Galaincha for designers, specialists in the design of handmade carpets.

Jan Kath's Spacecrafted
http://disegnodaily.com, 2014
Kath works with a modified version of the rug design computer programme Galaincha. Scanning a photograph for reproduction as a rug, the doctored programme analyses the number of colours required to create a successful transfer into wool and silk. "We are using it as a tool to give the carpet industry a fresh injection and a boost," says Kath.

Skywalk Through Outer Space With These Celestial Carpets
http://www.gizmodo.com.au, 2014
At first glance, the designs are tough to make out - but a closer look reveals that they're actually pretty incredible depictions of the universe. Disegno reports that Kath used Galaincha software to turn the original pics into a format that could be easily translated onto the carpets, knot by knot by knot at his workshop in Nepal.

Hacking the galaincha industry
VenturePlus, 2013
Nepali carpets have drama attached to them - the heritage of Tibetan artists, the conflicts and the ups and downs it's seen over the years. The silver lining is piece of software, developed locally, used globally, that has transformed the Nepali carpet industry for the better.

Designing with technology
The Himalayan Times, 2013
'Galaincha' is a rug and textile designing software developed by Alternative Technology. And the training aimed to enhance the capability of designers and empower them by imparting additional inputs of "technology assisted designing" as per the press statement.

Weaving Hope
Surface Design Journal, 2012
Most rug designers now use a computer program called Galaincha (www.galaincha.com.np). This program was developed in Kathmandu and has many functions similar to other graphic design software, but it is tailored specifically to requirements for carpet manufacturing. It provides an efficient way to translate digitized artwork into a rug design and, with one click, facilitates the communication of variations in designs between rug designers, their customers, and the workshops in Asia.

Truly first class rugs
Floordata.com, 2011

The company do their own designing, customisation and pre-processing work using a rug designing program called Galaincha, which produces precise and high quality results.

The exploRUG presentation software can be tried out on: www.rug-maker.com, by clicking 'guest', or for the Galaincha design software a three month trial is available for €100. Contact: Richard@rug-maker.com or 01727 841046.


Flooring the IT demons
Flooring NEWS, 2011
Rug-Maker.com utilises exploRUG and Galaincha software for design and pre-processing work, providing customised hand knotted rugs. The higly quality representation provided by the software has enabled the company to communicate flawlessly with customers, he (Richard Mathias) says, boosting confidence in the process and providing further sales growth.

The magic of colour
Carpet and Flooring Review, 2011
"Finally, this is translated into the computer for a detailed specification. I (Sonya Winner) work with Explorug.com, the latest computer technology and visualisation software to create a textured visualisation to check before production begins. This is then translated by Galaincha software to communicate to the weavers the design knot by knot."

Modern technologies in ancient arts
http://style.uz, 2010
Slowly but surely, modern technologies are making their way into Uzbek handmade carpet weaving which has a history that spans thousands of years.

ABC Part Four, Custom Rugs
Rugdesignblog, 2009
Have you ever played with the fun computer system that allows you to see what your paint chip actually looks like on a bedroom wall rendered in the computer system?

The PC knows how the rug will look
carpetXL, 2009
A piece of software that visualises the look of a rug in such a way that it can be presented to the potential buyer on the computer screen as realistically as a photograph, even before the production process has begun.

Virtual selling and good old fashioned customer service
Carpet & Flooring Review, 2008
Technology has not only helped in visualising the end product, but also quick modifications in the design and colour, and calculating the cost of rug according to silk percentage are now possible without having to wait for the strike off and production data.

Meet your maker
Carpet & Rug, 2008
It's website enables users to create individual, personalised rug designs beginning with selecting the exact dimensions of the desired product. Once this has been established, the design and colours are chosen, not from generic stock of existing images and ideas, but from the users own plan of what they are looking for.

Virtual Carpet
Nepal Carpet, 2008
Looking at the pace at which technology is unfolding newer possibilities, and at the developments that are going in the labs dedicated to exploit such possibilities for the benefit of rug industry, the technological future of custom rug business holds a lot of pleasant surprises.

Whats afoot?
idfx, 2007
exploRUG has created new design software. You can experiment with different designs for the rug you want made using their ideas or submit your own. The software converts the finalised design to plan that's used by Nepalese weavers to produce the carpet you want.

Rug Interface
modern, 2006
The program is remarkably intuitive and user-friendly system that permits customers full creative control of the shape, size and design of any rug. "It's absolutely infinite now," he says, "you can have anything - it's all in your own imagination."