Family doll sets, spinning tops and ethnic decor

INDIAN TOYS FOR THE FESTIVE SEASON  When the idea of creating traditional Indian toys first came to Bharathi, it was ...

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Ethnic weaves, fragrant candles and organic scents

WEAVES AND STYLES FROM BENGAL Anushree Malhotra specializes in Bengal’s weaving techniques. Her clothes are organic, and modern with a ...

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Trinkets from the hills, skincare and no oil snacks

TRINKETS FROM THE HILLS SONAM Dorjee Negi welcomes every visitor to his stall at Dastkar’s Summer Mela with a bright ...

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Ladakh line: Products from the mountains

Civil Society Reviews

FROM HILLTOP FARMS  Rinchen Youdol’s company, Reetsot, sells a variety of organic foods. There’s a range of teas – chamomile, ...

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Colourful metalware, ethnic weaves and more

METALWARE IN MANY SHAPES AND COLOURS Chinar Valley Arts is a home décor enterprise founded by 30 artisans, some of ...

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Give with heart: Some gems from small producers

Terracotta beauties Mansi Verma's stall sells a delightful jumble of things you’d love to take home.  An attractive lamp glows ...

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Smart snacks and heavenly sweets

Do you begin dreaming of spicy samosas and syrupy jalebis when you’re hungry?  Banish the thought. There are delectable alternatives ...

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A gift of rice

From Onam to Pongal is the festive season when we meet and greet friends and families. We agonize over the ...

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Mahua for health and wealth

Mahua for health and wealth The versatile mahua tree is a gift from nature. It yields wealth in many forms ...

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Fabric from plants and flowers

Fabric from plants and flowers Anuradha Singh is an expert in eco-printing, a method by which she extracts natural dye ...

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Dolls to remember

WHAT’s a doll with a past? A heritage doll.  Meet queen Gowdung Rani, fearsome female warrior Gambari Sikla, the kingly ...

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Introducing arts and crafts from all over India

Small producers and artisans need help to reach out to sell their  wonderful products. They can’t advertise and they don’t ...

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Neem tableware

The wondrous neem tree is famous for its many medicinal qualities. While neem leaf and bark have been used for ...

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Goatskin guitar

Tsering Angchuk is a musician from Changtang in Ladakh. Sitting inside his stall at Dilli Haat, he strums a traditional ...

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Snow leopards, yaks

Have you seen animals from snowy Ladakh in warm Delhi? Of course not. But you could catch a glimpse of ...

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Painting the jungle

Baiga art is bright and beautiful and looks fabulous on a wall. “It’s our traditional craft and we love doing ...

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Northeast specials

Fear not the big bad city. Armed with the world’s hottest chilli, the famed bhutjholokia of Northeast fame, you can ...

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Art in every corner

Some Fine Handicrafts has tables, trays, lamps and furniture with beautiful art work. You can buy a tray with a ...

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Coconut medley

Rabiah is an NGO which sells a range of coconut products. There is coconut milk, coconut powder, coconut pickle, coconut ...

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Terracotta beauties

Mansi Verma’s stall has a delightful jumble of things you’d love to take home.  An attractive lamp glows gently behind ...

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Mushroom magic

Add zing to your meals with a spoon of mushroom powder or diced dried oyster mushrooms. Pastas, soups, sautéed greens ...

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Newspaper pencils

Family of Disabled (FOD), an NGO in Delhi, has started a micro-enterprise which makes pencils from discarded newspapers. “Our pencils ...

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Leafy plates

Dilseng M. Sangma, an earnest young man from Meghalaya, manufactures plates and bowls from arecanut leaves and sal leaves. One ...

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Salad heaven

Perk up your salads with inventive artisanal dressings you can match with your greens. Arugula & Co. offers a range ...

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Timeless ajrak

It is said that the origins of ajrak, a block-printed textile with rich colours, can be traced to the Harappan ...

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Masks with herbs

iVillage, a social enterprise started by Pardada Pardadi Educational Society (PPES), makes masks to suit every face and every need. ...

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Native laptop bags

Every season, Arti Gehlot and her team at Kirgiti pick one traditional fabric and learn everything about it. Then they ...

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Stylish Shibori

Ananda makes dresses, blouses, sarees, dupattas and stoles using an exquisite Japanese dyeing technique called Shibori. The fabrics used are ...

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Colourful carpets

In Mirzapur, India’s oldest carpet weaving hub, generation after generation is trained to become gifted weavers. The Mirzapur Dari Weavers’ ...

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Carved in stone

Black stoneware from Manipur is attractive, hardy and reasonably priced. You can get earthy coffee mugs, water tumblers, kettles, plates, ...

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Natural cosmetics

Adri Naturals was started by Seema Khurana whose firm belief is that natural products make the best cosmetics. When she ...

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Kashida threads

Kashmir’s beautiful Kashida embroidery is full of nature imagery and floral patterns. Abdul Rashid Dar’s stall in Dastkaar’s Nature Bazaar ...

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Honey from Etna

KAVITA Khorana and her husband started Etna in late 2015. They borrowed the name from Mount Etna, one of the ...

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Cool masks

Face masks are your armour against the deadly coronavirus. Buy a few from the Gulmeher Green Producer Company, a women’s collective. ...

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Himalayan bounty

The Inhere Aajivika Utthan Samiti (IAUS), an NGO in Almora district of Uttarakhand, runs a successful non-profit, Himalayan Fresh, which supports ...

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Unique rice

India is undergoing a rice revolution in long forgotten rice varieties. Farmers are keen to grow traditional varieties and consumers ...

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Earthy skin

First Water Solutions offers a range of natural cosmetic products from solid perfumes and face scrubs to body lotions and serums. ...

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Sinful chocolate

Handcrafted chocolates taste better and make you feel better. Queen & Bee’s range of tempting chocolates are handcrafted by women ...

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Winter knits

Kilmora’s sweaters and mufflers evoke memories of woollens knitted by grandmothers and aunts. The woollens are made by rural women ...

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Magic threads

Atiqa is a collective of Afghan women who have found a semblance of home in Delhi after escaping the turmoil ...

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Chanderi times

A sari mela, organised by Dastkar, brought weavers from all over India to Delhi. Among them was Yakoob Ansari whose ...

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Mighty flowers

Phool offers luxury incense sticks with the power of flowers. Light one and the fragrance of a thousand flowers suffuses ...

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Golden spice

Aranyam Natural Options specialises in turmeric, the super spice that the West has fallen in love with.  Meenakshi Bhardwaj, co-founder ...

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Natural pads

Koko Girl manufactures inexpensive sanitary pads in very soft, hygienic, organic cotton. The pads feel light, airy and comfortable and ...

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Paper baskets

Sona Kapoor began making a range of  baskets from wastepaper as a hobby  some years ago. That little fun activity ...

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Art & a story

Patachitra is Bengal’s traditional art of scroll painting, still largely done with natural colours. Patuas or chitrakars are a community ...

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Green pencils

Pencils made from recycled newspaper are as good as pencils made from wood. Sturdy and smooth, these are an eco-friendly ...

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