MEET THE MASTERS
An introduction to the virtuoso designers and master artisans who will personally guide you through India’s rich traditional hand craft and contemporary design landscape. Through intimate learning sessions, intensive workshops, hands-on crafts training, industry secrets and more.
INDIA BY HAND MASTERS
Ashdeen Z Lilaowala
Fashion, Textiles, Embroidery
Derawalas of Bagru
Handblock Printing
Gaurav Jai Gupta
Fashion, Textiles
The Kalna Weavers
Handloom Weaving
Lac Bangle Makers of Jaipur
Jewelry Design
RASA Jaipur
Fashion and Textile Design
Riddhi Jain
Natural Dyeing, Textile Art
Sarthak and Sahil
Product Design, Sustainability
Suket Dhir
Fashion Design
Ashdeen Z Lilaowala
Try your hand at intricate traditional embroidery techniques with award winning designer, travel writer and scholar Ashdeen Lilaowala. Ashdeen is renowned for his work with the traditional Gara embroidery of India’s fire-worshipping Parsi community and has dressed global icons like Oprah Winfrey and Amitabh Bachchan.
A student of fashion design tries her hand at Gara embroidery
Derawalas of Bagru
Get hands-on training in the ancient craft of hand block printing with the Derawala family from Bagru, Rajasthan – standard-bearers of the discipline for generations. Learn from the masters as they create vibrant, mesmerising textile in front of you, using traditional hand carving, all natural dyes, fasteners and fabric, and hand skill honed by centuries of practice.
Students immersed in their hand block printing session at Bagru
Gaurav Jai Gupta
Take part in an intensive, goal-oriented project with designer maker Gaurav Jai Gupta, globally acclaimed for his contemporary luxury textile creations and innovative use of material. Learn about Gaurav’s end-to-end approach, starting with handcrafting yarn on a traditional hand loom, to the final, runway-ready creation.
Designer-maker Gaurav Jai Gupta takes an engrossed audience through his creative process
The Kalna Weavers
Visit Kalna, Bengal, to watch master weaver Jyotish Debnath practise the intricate fine craft of weaving the world’s lightest, finest cotton fabric. The strands are so thin that they can only be worked on at dawn or after sundown because the afternoon heat wilts it. The final product is so fine that a two metre fabric passes through a wedding ring, liquid-like.
Master weaver Jyotish Debnath sits at his hand loom
Lac Bangle Makers of Jaipur
Visit the home of master bangle makers Imtiyaz and Akhalaq to see them conjure up ornaments, watched over by their mother, in vivid colour and hypnotic swirling patterns. Using lacca resin, blocks of natural dye in RGB, a coal brazier, and practiced ease that only comes with decades of dedication to their craft, and generations of inherited knowledge.
Lac bangles being created live at an India By Hand session
RASA Jaipur
An interactive session at RASA Jaipur with designers Madhulika and Manish Tibrewal, acclaimed for the design interventions and multi-disciplinary influences they bring to the ancient hand block printing process, incorporating intricate embroidery patterns, paisley motifs and contemporary influences.
Manish Tibrewal on traditional processes and design applications at an India By Hand workshop
Riddhi Jain
Learn the fine craft of pole wrapping and natural dyeing techniques from award-winning textile artist Riddhi Jain, whose quietly stunning creations have won her laurels worldwide. She is also a sustainable design pioneer, upcycling waste thread to create her acclaimed Re Collection of home textile.
Hands on natural dyeing sessions with master textile designer Riddhi Jain
Sarthak and Sahil
Attend an intimate session with sustainability pioneers Sarthak and Sahil who spin leftover fabric from cloth mills into ropes to create vibrant contemporary furniture and centrepieces. Sarthak and Sahil are proponents of a proprietary “Zero Kilometer® Design” concept that involves local craftsmanship and artisans in all their designs.
Learn the ropes of sustainable design with innovators Sahil and Sarthak
Suket Dhir
Visit International Woolmark Prize winner Suket Dhir’s atelier for a personalised, guided tour from the designer himself, and a fascinating walkthrough of his creative influences, from Karnataka’s near extinct Kasuti embroidery, Sanganeri print, Ikat fabric and the paintings of René Magritte.
A lighter moment at an in-depth, interactive session
INDIA BY HAND TOURS
APPRENTICE
For students of fashion, design, art, graphics, photography, architecture and urban planning. From US$1650 per person.
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CONNOISSEUR
For travellers with an eye for design, craft, art, fashion, architecture and travel. From US$3240 per person.
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CUSTOMISE YOUR TOUR
India By Hand tours can be designed specifically around your interests.
Email booking@gormei.com or Whatsapp +85296307513 for a free consultation.