Programs
what we do
empowerment hub
Craft Enterprise Development
The project works in close collaboration with craftpreneurs, striving towards holistic enterprise development for our artisan cohorts. We enable creaftprenuers through enterprise development which focusses on increasing key skills like business knowledge, product development, finance and inventory management amongst others. We aim to help them increase their revenue by addressing critical gaps. Craft Enterprise Development works mainly with non-textile crafts like metal, wood, glass and hand painting as well as tribal and languishing crafts. Our cohort comprises 15-20 such enterprises.
CAPACITY BUILDING WORKSHOPS
Capacity Building workshops aim to build the next generation of craftprenuers. The workshops empower craftpreneurs through focused and dynamic training programs with the goal of preparing them to meet market demands. A residential program, the workshops provide guided training with flexible modules suited and tailored to their individual requirement and capabilities.
ARTISAN MARKET CONNECT
Creating a strong network of buyers is critical to enterprise success. We link creaftprenuers with prospective B2B and B2C clients while also featuring at events and exhibits, establishing direct consumer connections; facilitating opportunities enabling them to expand their market presence. We also enable them to explore eCommerce marketplaces, corporate gifting and designer collaborations. Our opportunities at exhibitions, fairs and the likes are open to Tarasha’s network of alumni as well.
design collabs
Explore the outcome of successful craft enterprise, with each artist collaborating closely with a designer to produce exquisite craft pieces.
design
collabs
Bull heads, modeled on cattle integral to southern India's agro-pastoral communities, symbolize fertility, abundance, and strength. The sacred bull Nandi, Shiva's mount, is often worshipped. Decorated bulls feature in rituals and celebrations. Crafted from braided bulrush reeds and natural-dyed banana rope, these materials are abundant in Laxmeshwar village, Gadag district, Karnataka. Local artisans have long used these natural fibers for their crafts.
Sahana Davallappa Satpute
Enakshi Ghosh
Textile Designer
design
collabs
These scrolls draw inspiration from Rajasthan's wildlife and the revival of the lost craft of "Pattu" weaving. The artisan from Dhanau village in Barmer district collaborates with the designer to depict two male blackbucks dueling over a female against a rising sun. This symbolizes both the blackbuck's resurgence and the effort to revive the traditional craft. The blackbuck, once near extinction, now thrives under protection.
Khetaram Sumra
Enakshi Ghosh
Textile Designer
design
collabs
The designer merges the sturdiness of anthills with the intricate nest-building of weaverbirds to create these ant-hill lamps. In Kampli, Bellary district, Karnataka, weaverbirds and artisans alike use abundant banana fiber. The installation features conical lamps of varying sizes, each carefully crocheted by the artisan using different counts of banana fiber for a dramatic texture.
Vishwanath Aundhakar
Enakshi Ghosh
Textile Designer
design
collabs
Translating Gond art onto denim was challenging, but Sukhiram ji's craftsmanship prevailed. His ability to blend traditional skills with modern tastes resulted in denim jackets that showcase Gond art's intricacy and vibrancy. This collection celebrates fearless women who inspire daily, embodying beauty, strength, and resilience. The collaboration reflects the power of creative expression, just as clothing expresses identity.
Sukhiram Maravi
Vishakha Agrahari
Lead designer, MeMeraki
design
collabs
The artwork ‘The Indian Hornbill’ reimagines kite making, with designers Neelam and Devyani from The MangoTree using kite paper and bamboo as art mediums. Inspired by colorful handcrafted kites and the joy of flying, the abstract depiction of the bird stands out. The installation 'Sky Of Kites' draws inspiration from Makar Sankranti, celebrating the Sun's northward movement with countless colorful kites filling Indian skies.
Touseef Mian & Shavez Mian
The Mango Tree
The Mango Tree
design
collabs
This unique collaboration brings together block maker Tahir and miniature artists Naveen and Mohan. Tahir, inspired by Mala Dhawan's initiative of combining crafts, creates blocks based on miniature art themes. Naveen and Mohan paint over these blocks in their signature styles, adding surprise and dimensionality. All three artists are young innovators, reinventing their inherited arts. Their creations can be used as decor, architectural components, and adapted for various applications.
Mohammad Tahir
Naveen Soni & Mohan Prajapati
Artist
design
collabs
Project Tarasha and Creative Dignity have facilitated a collaboration between the amazingly gifted Laila Chitrakaar and communication designer Anando Dutta. Laila brings a treasure trove of ideas, images, voices and songs, reflections from the earth and her people. The co-creation has been a delightful exchange of thoughts, set in a traditional visual style and grammar handed down over generations. The presentation is about the realities that play out routinely around her. Her song speaks of aspirations and dreams of the young, cleansing waters of the river and the bounties of our trees that rejuvenate us and the beauty of selfless giving that nurtures and gives meaning to our communities. Her art is a mesmerizing mosaic of her landscape that captures abstractions of a traditional art form in a contemporary statement of her times.
Laila Chitrakar
Anando Dutta
Anando Dutta
design
collabs
Project Tarasha and Creative Dignity have facilitated a collaboration inspired by M.C. Escher, a Dutch graphic artist and luminary in the realm of optical illusions and impossible constructions. In this East-meets-West collaboration, we take Escher's mind-bending tessellations to the Sanjhi heritage artisans of Mathura and reimagine them through Nisha Vikram’s lens. This journey involved delving into the intricacies of translating complex designs into the delicate format of paper cutting while maintaining the structural integrity of the medium. The essence of this project lies in the fusion of two diverse artistic traditions.
Ashutosh Verma
Nisha Vikram
Craft Canvas
design
collabs
Project Tarasha and Creative Dignity have facilitated this collaboration with Zubair Yousuf's Ajrakh brand, which creates contemporary and modern block printed patterns. His brand has already been diversifying into a range of home textiles and stationery products. The designer, Karishma, therefore, decided to create a new product extension for them. The idea of lamps in different sizes serves as a medium to take their textile aesthetic into spaces in a functional as well as decorative manner. As a practicing clothing designer working on creating products with familiar materials and translating them into different forms, it was also a different foray for both Karishma and Zubair.
Zubair Yousuf
Karishma Shahani
Ka-Sha
design
collabs
On each panel, we tell our stories through embroidery, embedded with our handcrafted jewelry, which includes 25 paisa coins, as we wear our wealth on our body. We have recreated the mashru stripes in embroidery, as the embroidered panels were originally mixed with the Mashru from Gujarat. Traditionally, we used small hand-cut mica mirrors. However, for this piece, we remember the mirror work that helped ward off dangerous animals in the past, in embroidered fabric circles evocative of the mirrors. Our traditional blouse, interpreted as an art textile, is a sort of resurgence of our traditions, craft, and artistic ability.
Porgai Artisans
