Knot from Overseas: The History of Macramé

Boredom of sailors. That’s what gave rise to one of today’s boldest fashion statements. What is...

Front and Centre: Festive Spotlight on Indian Crafts

When someone asks you to name Indian crafts, how many can you? Before Club Artizen, mine was...

Adding Colour to Lives with Natural Dyeing

Every day at the Bhoomika Activity and Skill Training Centre, the young women eagerly check a...

Creating a Sustainable Line: The Club Artizen/LEERA story  

When Kairavi Shahu started work on the exclusive vegan leather line for Club Artizen, the task...

Bamboo Crafts Help Tribal Women Stand Tall 

Baans. Moongil. Bidiru. Baambu. Mula. Veduru. Mat.   All words for the versatile bamboo in...

Returning to the Roots: Banjara Embroidery

When Rohit Rathod’s grandfather came to see his grandmother to seek her hand in marriage, his...

Two states: A collaborative craft enterprise

Collaboration across two states: grass from Assam woven in Tamil Nadu. That’s the formula that has...

“Macramé pe charcha” for well-being

It was in 2009, when her daughter studied in a Waldorf-inspired school, that psychologist Nirupama...

For a colourful future: Bannada Dhara

One small village and five women. COVID. A passion to make something of themselves. One person to...

Everyday green living

Our sustainable lifestyle products are an effort to introduce the concept of green living in our...

Straw products in modern avatar: Moonj

Moonj grass is abundantly found in riverbanks, and also used as a border grass in fields in Uttar...

Bagging a livelihood: Thoorigai

Its number in the catalogue is AR120. Its specs are also nondescript: it’s a single zipper bag...

Embroidery-like weaving: Rajasthan’s Pattu

It was right after the drought of 1987 that the people of Bikaner started looking for alternate...

Marching toward new motifs: Cherial art

Sai Kiran Dhanalakota had nearly decided that he would study animation. No matter that his...

Capturing stories in a single frame

Scrolling. About a hundred years ago, it held an entirely different meaning. Teams of storytellers...

Sweet expression: The traditional art of Madhubani

Madhubani, also called Mithila painting, originated in the Mithila region in present day Bihar....

Building new from old: Dharamshala’s handmade paper

It was the 1990s, and Dharamshala’s waste problem was increasing day by day. Tourists and...

This Ability: Changing narratives

When 50 women from Self Help Groups and 100 students of a college in Pondicherry were shown the...

Resist and dye: The Shibori revolution

Of late, we have been hearing a lot of the word shibori. If the name doesn’t sound very Indian,...

The story of a home

For twenty years, the Rehoboth Home for the Mentally Disabled have been working with women who...

Toda Embroidery: Beautiful, inside out!

Black, red, and white. The colours of the Toda embroidery may be limited, but their repertoire is...

Patchwork: From rags to riches!

Yesterday I came home with a noticeable tear on my shirt. While one part of me was  in pain to let...

Channapatna: Wood toys, for good

The word “Channapatna” literally means “good town”, but the more colloquial name for it, gives a...

Nothing Goes Waste!

Jaipur prints, for many of us, bring to mind one type of print, perhaps the ones we see in...

Seva Trust. They also make bags.

The first product that we came across, from Seva Charitable Trust, was the gobar diya. These...

A different kind of shark tank

Sura—meaning shark—has helped women in a rural coastal area in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, fasten their...

Recycle that Denim! Ideas and Resources

Ah, denim. It's the ultimate fabric that can be worn almost every day, from work to the weekend....

Little-known facts about Kalamkari!

If you live in India, you could not have missed hearing the word ‘kalamkari.’ Chances are, you own...

Mewar Art: Small wonders

Artists were cameramen of those days, says Sachin Kothari, of Fine Arts School, Udaipur, of Mewar...

Palmistry!

In and around Pulicat, the palm tree is a constant presence--be it in the crafts of the region, or...

Dotted Lines

Lilesh has a master’s degree in social work. He is a farmer too. However, the identity he wishes...

A second life

A priest standing next to a pile of used flowers. An NGO whose staff offered to help the priest....

Nesting skills

Thirankoodu literally means “nest of skills.” This is what Satya Special School’s project,...

Honey, I shrunk the income gap!

In 1993, three friends backpacked across the Nilgiris to understand honey hunters and their...

All’s well that begins well

“We only use The Hindu,” says Danny Merguei, of Wellpaper. “It’s the only newspaper where the...

A common thread

Arockiyamary has been coming to the Cluny Art Embroidery Centre for around 40 years. She is...

Grass craft: The last straw?

We’ve always had a tradition of using everything that can be used, and grass is no different....

Mindful gifting!

For a lot of people, love and affection is expressed through gifts. For me, it’s a way of...

Saree-incarnation!

Saree-incarnation!

Organizations that do amazing things with old saris

Trash-ure!

Scrapshala, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh Scrapshala is an organization whose mission is to stop waste...

Pattachitra: The story of art

Medium, Not Rare

Tholu Bommalata: Dance of light and shadow

Light and shadow. Using this basic idea, this ancient art form of Andhra Pradesh has beautifully...

Punja Dhurrie: All yours

Chandigarh enterprise brings Punja Dhurrie out of homes Naseeb Kaur’s granddaughter was recently...

Tying together

How a craft dissolved differences in Goan craft clusters

Paper perfect!

Aurobindo Handmade Paper Factory creates a model for sustainable production Organic. Perfection....

A cut above

Kriti: Action, doing Kalā: Art, craft Enter the Kritikala store in Hyderabad, and if you are...