Meet the makers. Explore their craft. Share their stories.

In collaboration with

and 21 more collections

The fabric of a nation

watch

The Crafts of India in 60 Seconds

Art is all around us

Putting crafts on the map

Pack Your Bags For a Journey Across India

The traditions and people who make a country

Explore By Color

A Rainbow of Indian Handicrafts

From vibrant violet to beautiful blues

A Quick Way to Explore India's Crafts

Stop scrolling and take the tap-friendly route

Choose your own adventure

Threads of time

Discover Lucknow's rich textile heritage

Pattern

A harmony of silks

Țukṛī work

Embellish

Embroider with gold and silver

The delicate art of mukaish

Classic

White on white embroidery

Cikankārī at its finest

Wear

The original bell bottoms

Meet the Farshī Pyjāmā

Learn

Men's Attire

Wardrobe of a Lucknowi Gentleman

Test your crafts knowledge

Can you solve it?

Get cultured through word puzzles

Play now

Dress up the look

With floral jewellery - and more!

Online Exhibit

What a gem

Kundan - precious stones encased in gold

Online Exhibit

Petals, please!

Crafting floral jewellery

Online Exhibit

Gold and Silver Jewellery

Unique pieces that have stood the test of time

Watch the art in action

Watch

The Beauty of Indian Crafts in Five Short Movies

From north to south, meet the makers and discover India through its crafts

"Crafts are the threads that weave the fabric of our culture, connecting us to our past and guiding us into the future."Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay

Home is where the art is

Meet the people usings crafts to add color, style, and elegance to interiors

How to Decorate With Kitchen Cabinet Ingredients

Sonabai Rajawar's found a creative way to decorate after being forced into isolation

The Woman Who Lives in a Museum

Sundaribai Rajawar has turned her home into a wonderland of colorful figurines

Keeping the Mughal Style Alive

Wood carver Mohammed Matloob uses innovative techniques to create works of art

A Bed You Can Also Use As An Ironing Board

The multi-purpose charpais of Nai

If You've Got It, Decorate It

The Nomadic Lambanis who love to paint and embroider - everything!

Embroidering Cloths to Cover Walls...and Cows

How Kutch women bring color and life to a flat, brown environment

Guess That Craft

Test your knowledge of India's artforms

Take a guess

Holding the floor

The rugs and carpets that lay down the look

Kilim Carpets: Dreams Made Within Four Walls

Play video

Meet Abdul Kalam and team

Designs So Good They've Gone International

Learn more about the flat weaves of Uttar Pradesh

Weavers Who Design As They Go

No notes, no calculations, no written instructions

The Tiny, Dark Sheds Where Masterpieces Are Made

The humble weavers who specialise in kilim floor coverings

The Painstaking Process of Tie-Dying Threads

Weaving a Telia Rumal needs great amount of practice and perfection

Inside and out

How a simple decoration helped a complex problem

Spirituality in the streets

Bringing the Goddess to the Slums

Creating a shrine for the marginalised and excluded

Wall to wall

Zoom in to panels and paintings that tell a story

Zoom in to Cherial Paintings

From epics to stories of daily life

Zoom in to How Mata ni Pachedi is Created

An artistic sacred textile wall piece

Zoom in to Gond Painting

Stories and signatures

Zoom in to Sikkimese Thangkas: Part 1

The tradition of thangka painting

Zoom in to Sikkimese Thangkas: Part 2

Decorative and revered

The crafts that built India

How stonework and tile made Indian architecture what it is

Go On a Virtual Tour of 6 Icons of Indian Stone

From the Taj Mahal to Hampi

The Details in Agra You Don't Want To Miss

The Mughal era continues to be a source of inspiration for Agra’s skilled artisans

Between a Rock and a Grand Place

How natural rock is transformed into handcrafted homeware

Set in Stone

How carved and inlaid products are made

The Famous Animal Tiles of Barapali

And other unique terracotta creations from the region

Handcrafted Athangudi Tiles That Get Shinier With Use

Discover the sophisticated symmetry

Crafting in the Desert

Where local stones are said to have deposits from the remains of ancient marine animals

Out On The Tiles

Where people's homes are also their workshops

A City of Marble and Monuments

How the culture of Agra is set in stone

Forging the future

Metal working and casting traditions and how they are changing

Where The Forge Meets Function

Copper craft, from antique to contemporary

The Copper That's Hard to Beat

The Traditional and Contemporary Processes of Making Copper Products In Pune

Out of The Fire, In To The Form

How traditional crafts are sustained through local practices and demand

Bringing Bell Metal Back

With changing lifestyles and technology, very few households continue to cook in traditional bell metal vessels

Where To Spot Bell Metal

Decorating homes, temples, and events with the craft

From Dull Mud to Shining Metal

An introduction to the process of Payannur Bell Metal

How to Make Silver Filigree

Transforming wires into works of art

The Story of the Tambats of Pune

The city's community of copper workers

Coming out of the woodwork

How wood carving makes everyday objects beautiful

Wood You Rather?

Creating useful and beautiful objects from simple blocks of wood

A Town Rooted in Woodcraft

Nagina’s outstanding wood carving craft tradition dates back to the Mughal era

Functional Doesn't Have To Mean Ugly

Meeting society's needs with a touch of creativity

Keeping it green

An eco friendly community

How Khonoma Stays Sustainable

A village where daily life, resources and crafting go hand-in-hand with nature

The value of waste

Crafting paper from the most unexpected places

From Pineapple Fibres to Old Currency

Experimenting with paper making

What Can Be Made From Waste Products?

Giving recycled materials new life

From Poo to Paper

Dung doesn't have a negative connotation these traditional societies...

A Surprising Use For Elephant Dung

The story of using Elephant dung to make paper in Rajasthan

Crafts on paper

Crafts from Paper Maché

An art form from Kashmir

How to Make Paper Maché

Crafting shapes

Painting Papier Maché

The finished product

Qamar Dagar's Magic Pen

Combining Devanagari and Urdu calligraphy

A Guinness World Record Holder

Meet calligrapher Jamyang Dorjee

A modern twist

A contemporary use of heritage crafts

Taking Decoration out of the Past and into the Future

Reviving the use of Kottan baskets and Athangudi tiles

Discover more decorative crafts

Explore part 1

Handweaving history

In ancient Greece and Babylon the name ‘India’ was shorthand for ‘cotton’

Nature and Making

How Cloth Continues to Shape India Today

The materials and techniques used for making and decorating textiles

Weaving together the past and the present

The Banarasi Sari: The Song of the Loom

Play video

Meet Maqbool Hasan and Bharat Shah

Varanasi Brocade

Preparing the yarn

Kanjeevaram Weaving

Saris from Tamil Nadu

Khadi in Ponduru

A timeless form of craftsmanship

Weaving a Kullu Shawl

Lamb wool weaving

Indigenous Silks of Assam

Designs that are intrinsic to tribal identity and culture

Dhabla Weaving

Heritage textiles from Bhujodi Gujarat

Khadi Spinning and Weaving

An age-old journey

Rajasthan’s Leheriya Textiles

A unique resist technique

Saris, Odhanis and More

Woven Tales from India

Taming the Wool

From lambs to looms

The Process of Jamdani Weaving

The master stroke of the Bengali weaver

Sualkuchi: Commercial Weaving Enclave of Assam

A weaving village with royal patrons

Telia Rumal

The magical skill of Ikat

The Padmasali Weaving Community

Highly-skilled double ikat fabrics

Weaving a Kotpad Sari

Discover the traditional rhythm

Fabrics inspired by places

Weaving The Colors of the Ganges

Discover an ancient city of temples and textiles

Where Embroidering Together is a Family Affair

The love for nature at the heart of Kashmiri crafting communities

Turning Temples into Silk

Kanchipuram's ancient temples and their impact on silk weaving

Crafting at the End of the World

A village where everything is as pure as is the wool they weave

How a Stony Landscape Inspires Embroidery

The Lambanis like to stand out...

The art of creating color

Coloring and dyeing techniques

Over 1000 Years of Block Printing

“We Chippas, can block print on anything… give us even a rock and we will show you how we do it.”

Colours of the Earth

Reviving the art of natural dyeing

Stitches in time

Embroidery as artform

Sozni Embroidery: When Needle Meets Fabric

Play video

Meet the Beigh family

Zari Zardozi

Embroidery with metallic threads

The Chamba Rumal

Embroidered handkerchiefs

Needlework as Fine Art

The process of Chamba Rumal

Meghwals and Ahirs of Kutch

Embroidery as identity

Parsi Embroidery

A story of multicultural history, dynamic routes and roots

Dressed to impress

Crafts eye-catching enough for the catwalk

The Traditional Shoe with a Unique Symmetry

The Patiala Jutti has no distinction between the left and right foot

15 Variations on the Sari

How to wear India's iconic drape

The Must-Have Wardrobe Item

A Kanjivaram silk sari is usually considered to be an essential item in the wardrobe of the urban Indian woman

The Saris with Ties to Lord Buddha

Discover the rich history of Banarasi sarees and textiles

A Trip to the Sari Market

How saris go from weavers to the shopkeepers

Jaipur’s Unrivalled Jewelry Making

A piece of jewelry goes through many stages of designing, selecting, moulding, setting, cleaning, polishing and many other intricate processes

A Jewelry Passion with Royal Roots

Combining modern technology, excellent craftsmanship and elegant design

Sustainable fashion

Crafts with impact

Weaving Freedom in Meghalaya

Using natural plant and vegetable dyes and sustainable practices that align with the natural ecosystem

Discover more about crafts to wear

Explore part 2

Toy story

The lacquered figurines handmade in toy town

The Toy Made for Kings

The royal history of Channapatna toys

The Artisans Behind Channapatna Toys

A production line for play

Channapatna Toys Today

Quirky, fun, fashionable and sophisticated

Unfolding myths and legends

A unique story telling aid for a narrative folk tradition

Portable pictures

One For The Road

The kavad: a visual aid for travelling storytellers

Meet the makers

Keeping a Traditional Craft Contemporary

Meet the artisans behind the kavad

Is video killing the puppet stars?

A behind the curtain look at crafts people pulling strings

Leather Puppets: The Original Cinema

Play video

Meet DC Rao and Sindhe Ramulu

Turning Goat Hide into Entertainment

The changing art of leather puppet making

Strings Attached

Putul Naach: the story of puppet dance

Before TV, There Was Chitrakathi

A disappearing art that depends on the devotion of its practitioners

Contemporary Chitrakathi

How modern materials and themes are incorporated into the works

A New Direction for Shadow Puppetry

How the craftsmen are constantly forging new paths for the art form in changing scenarios

Unmasked

Behind the scenes in the mask-making process

How Used School Notebooks Become Masks

The many steps for transforming simple materials into a dancer’s awe-inspiring mask

Masks, Cock Fights, and a Haunted Railway

An introduction to the world of Santhals and the craftsmen behind the colorful Chhau Mask

Giving Good Face

How masks transform dancers

The Seven Stages of Making a Mask

From mould to Cherial masks

The Many Faces of Purulia Masks

A variety of characters, expressions, and flamboyant colors

Crafts for festivals and celebrations

A Silver Throne for the Goddess

See the installation of a silver filigree throne for Goddess Durga in Cuttack

A Calendar of Sacred Festivals

Crafting highly-elaborate silver ornaments for the deities

The art of fables

One of the earliest collections of folk tales in world literature, in color

Narrative art

The Painted Folk Tales of Panchatantra Chitra

For as long as there are people who want to hear a story, there will be artists who will continue to interpret them

Learn more about crafts for fun

Explore part 3

Are you a Teacher or Parent?

Downloadable lesson plans that can be used in the class or given to students to work through at their own pace.

Unheard Stories of Women in India

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