Culturally Speaking

Manish Saksena, Business Lead, Aadyam Handwoven, takes us through the journey of the brand and its stellar work of community building, and the rich tribute to the heritage of Indian culture and textiles.

As a CSR enterprise, what's your take on urban India's understanding of the country's artisanship and craftsmanship?

The first role we always end up taking on is the responsibility of educating, because, unfortunately, much of India's craft has been projected in a very raw and ethnic mannerand I must admit, I have a particular dislike for it being called 'ethnic'. It's actually more about our national craft, and it doesn't have to be necessarily put under the ethnic bucket.

Hence, there is a lot of this education that needs to be done as to how they are so precious and beautifully crafted. Most of these textiles have come from royalty, as they were the ones who patronised it.

To club it all under 'ethnic' gives you a certification to say that 'ethnic' comes from a raw space, and can therefore be cheap. A few crafts are cheap, but only because they are produced efficiently. So yes, a lot of education is needed.

From Aadyam Handwoven's initial beginnings to now, what are the brand's main milestones?