Discover

Every piece in the shop comes from somewhere — a valley, a lane of workshops, a town that has done one thing well for generations. These are those stories.

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  Pashmina hand-spinning and handloom weaving · Kashmir and Ladakh

  Why Real Pashmina Takes Weeks

  From the Changthangi goat's winter undercoat to the yinder and the handloom — how pashmina is made, and why the fibre itself sets the pace.

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  Lac-turnery on ivory wood · Channapatna, Karnataka

  Turned, Not Painted: The Toys of Channapatna

  In Karnataka's toy town, colour is not painted on but melted in — lac and vegetable-origin dyes fused to pale ivory wood on a spinning lathe.

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  Sikki grass weaving · Mithila, Bihar

  The Golden Grass of Mithila

  In the wetlands of north Bihar, women coil a golden grass into baskets and boxes, a craft learned at home and passed hand to hand.

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  Khatwa applique · Bihar

  Cloth Laid on Cloth: The Khatwa Applique of Bihar

  In Bihar's khatwa work, motifs are cut from cloth and hem-stitched onto a base — quilts, canopies and hangings built shape by shape, mostly by women.

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  Patola double ikat silk weaving · Patan, Gujarat

  Patola: the silk that is dyed before it is woven

  In Patan, the pattern of a Patola sari exists in the dyed threads before the loom is ever touched — and both sides come out identical.

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  Indigo dyeing and dabu mud-resist block printing · Jaipur region, Rajasthan

  Green for a Minute: Indigo Dyeing in the Villages Around Jaipur

  Cloth comes out of the indigo vat green and turns blue in the open air; around Jaipur, that chemistry meets the mud-resist patterns of dabu.

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  Warli painting · Maharashtra

  Rice on Earth: The Painted Walls of the Warli

  How the Warli community of northern Maharashtra paints daily life in rice-paste white on earthen walls, and what those triangles and circles are saying.

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  Traditional toy-making — terracotta, pith, bamboo and wood · Assam, India

  The Toys of Assam: Clay, Pith, Bamboo and Wood

  In Assam, toys are still made by hand from river clay, marsh pith, bamboo and wood, and sold at the fairs where children first meet them.