CRAFT FORWARD: THE PEOPLE KEEPING INDIA'S TRADITIONS COOL

Contemporary clothing, accessory and homeware makers are writing the next chapter for India's traditional crafts.

-  Jasreen Mayal Khanna

VAKR

These lunar-esque coffee tables and sculptural, suspended shelves are designed by architects Nehit Vij and Devyani Gupta, who set up their experimental studio with a mission to combine craft and modern furniture. For their first collection, Lehar, they used design-modelling software to create wave-shaped concrete pieces and retrained traditional rattan weavers from Uttar Pradesh to make parametric textures. vakrstudio.com

JODI

With their imaginative patterns and vibrant colours, Jodi's dresses, jackets and menswear move beyond the stereotypical look of block-printed Rajasthani and Gujarati clothing into something modern and more conceptual. Its founders, former fashion stylists Karuna Laungani and Gauri Verma, are inspired by their travels across India to produce signature prints with pomegranates, Bengal tigers and parrots rendered in hand-block printing and clamp dyeing. thejodilife.com

HEIRLOOM NAGA

Jesmina Zeliang trained a network of more than 450 rural, home-based artisans to weave on the flexible loin loom, or backstrap loom, to create textiles and decorative pieces that are "a confluence of traditional practices and modern design". Now stocked at Daylesford Organic and The Citizenry in New York, the range includes classic throws and cushion covers in tactile, natural materials such as cotton and eri silk, with a timeless aesthetic. Zeliang also makes fans and wooden figurines, bamboo-woven pieces and rustic woodwork. heirloomnaga.com 

SANGARU