We survived because we were entirely online

With inputs from Rosella Stephen, Nidhi Adlakha and Aparna Narrain We speak with 10 designers on how they are surviving the pandemic. Not only do the designers look out for (and collaborate with) each other - be it textile entrepreneur Jeremy Fritzhand or printmaker Shaivyya - they are also giving back to their artisans through creative interventions and training. It’s impossible to fly in from Australia, of course, with our stringent border lockdown, but that is not true for some Europeans and Americans.” A strong sense of community is also helping. “I know there are some jewellers and textile people in town. “I know there have been international buyers arriving in the city and collaborating on design and production, over the last few months,” says travel writer Fiona Caulfield. When much of the country’s craft segments struggled to regain their footing, Jaipur’s artisans, in the most welcome of contradictions, got busy with orders - exports stepping up as tourism dried up. And while their works, ironically, may not be available to the locals, they help charge the economy. Much of the works of note are being created through the agency of a group of itinerant creative practitioners - those who shuttle between the Pink City and London, Paris or New York. In fact, the cognoscenti is very small here,” says art curator and founder of arts organisation Red Earth, Himanshu Verma (aka the Saree Man), pointing out that a price-sensitive market also “waters down how brands grow”.īut what it lacks in size, it makes up in heart, drawing talent from all corners of the globe.

“Though Jaipur has been a centre for various aesthetic activities through the centuries, the average lay person doesn’t belong to the cognoscenti. It is the production centre for intricate embroidery and prints that’s used by some of the world’s most luxurious brands, but the city has few big local brands to boast of. Its beautiful forts and palaces are contrasted by crowded urban sprawls.

How not to lose your marbles jpr