The Naihati Jute Mills Co. Ltd.

We've been at 7 Hare Street for quite a while now. Most people know the building, but getting up to the 4th floor is always a bit of a trip. Our main work happens at the mills in Naihati, which is where the name comes from, but this office is where the paperwork gets handled. Jute is just one of those things that stays in your clothes and under your fingernails if you work with it long enough. It's dusty work, and not always the most exciting thing to talk about at dinner, but it’s what we do. The office here isn't fancy. There are stacks of ledgers and samples of sacks everywhere. Sometimes the elevator works perfectly and other days you're taking the stairs, which isn't great in the heat. We spend most of our time dealing with suppliers and trying to keep the machines running smoothly back at the plant. It's a lot of phone calls and making sure the raw fiber is actually arriving when people say it will. We’ve seen the neighborhood change a lot over the years. Some shops close, new ones open, but we just keep showing up here on Hare Street. It’s a job like any other, keeping a traditional industry going in a world that’s moving way too fast. We don't have a big marketing team or anything like that. Just a few of us here making sure the orders get out and the bills get paid.