Emerging From Hibernation
Handmade And Designed In Des
It's been 13 years since Sunny Narang left an earlier life of working with artisans especially in Rajasthan, for more than 20 years, to build a coalition of start-ups in sports & assorted design, craft e-commerce, spinning disruption technology and a family business that evolved from a specialised steel processing to an automotive components coalition.
An inspiration from an Himanshu Verma curated collection, of Ajrakh-inspired handblock printing fabrics, made him build a coalition once again in the crafts, handloom textiles, design and art space.
His earlier craft company was in hibernation, which he had renamed and it was waiting to be the vehicle for what's coming next.
He calls it the :
#Jamming & #Jugalbandi : The #JambudvipaHeartcraft vibe!
Jambudvipa Heartcraft will invest in and build projects with stores, curators, artists, illustrators, designers , film makers, artisans and weavers to create new contemporary handcrafted textiles, installations & art.
Craft Textiles Design and Art being made by desis inspired, influenced & interpreting, from everywhere but the lingo is from #HereAndHow.
Starting with Handblock Printed Fabrics, Stoles & Sarees and who knows what else?
Collaborators for our first project:
Su Tanu Panigrahi, who he worked with almost 15 years from 1997-2012, to create handblock and screen printed funky designs, is now a full blown artist.
Sutanu or Su lives in Odisha.
Check his amazing art at Rasalobhi? Check Su's Rasalobhi here
Himanshu Verma who he has known almost since 1997 too but they never worked together, but has been watching him make every move of his from art & textiles curation to heritage tours of Old Delhi, Braj and Jaipur to making natural Holi colours, collaborated on sourcing and selling an innovative Kota Doria saree collection inspired by iconic Rajasthani architecture.
Himanshu is based in Jaipur.
See his stuff at online for Himanshu
Rameshwari Kaul - known for more than a decade, funded a Japanese aesthetic inspired West Bengal cotton handloom saree collection, and then became a minor investor in her khadi start up Cotton Rack .
She has also been working on traditional wool of Rajasthan.
Rameshwari is based in Jaipur too and Cottonrack is online
Antima Khanna again one knows for more than 15 years as she worked in an alternative bookstore in New Delhi, taking a sabbatical from her accounts career. She worked with me during my start-up and corporate life, but kept her life as a maker of costume jewellery alive.
She blogs on traditional textiles and craft and creates designer stationery too.
Check out Antima Khanna
Ritika Narang is his younger sister, and after doing a stint in a media house started a handloom business, but Pune called her to open a design, craft and handloom store Either Or in 1999.
Either Or is now a 25 year old iconic Pune lifestyle store sharing innovative and creative products.
Check her store
Bharat aka Jambudvipa aka India is the land of eternal engagement & hybridization, the world has always come here, to be absorbed in the great dance of diversity.
It's about hands, minds and hearts crafting together beautiful futures, from forever to forever.
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Thanks, Sunny.
Thanks for the lead and history.