Why we go to the workshop, not the showroom
Craft is a family trade here: most Rajasthani skills pass from parent to child inside a family or a community, so the workshop is often also the home.
The showroom sits in the middle: a driver is paid to bring you in, the showroom adds its margin, and the person who made the piece gets a small fraction of what you hand over.
- Our rule
- No commission, from any shop, ever
- Guides and drivers
- Paid properly by us, so they gain nothing from a sale
- Names on this page
- None, by design: we introduce families in person
- Buying
- Never expected, always welcome
- Going direct changes the maths: you pay the maker a fair price that the maker sets, and nobody standing between you takes a cut.
- It also changes the morning: instead of being sold to, you watch a block carved, a dye vat stirred or a brush loaded with ground stone, and you understand what you are buying.
- Why we name no one here: families move, sons take over, and a list on a website goes stale. We would rather introduce you in person, on the day, to people we have visited recently.
- Nothing is compulsory: a craft morning is a visit, not a sales trip. Many guests buy nothing, and the families are glad of the company anyway.
How we choose a workshop
The maker is there: we want the printer, the painter or the weaver in the room, working, not a manager with a catalogue.
The work is done on site: blocks carved, cloth dyed, colours ground or looms working where you can see them, rather than finished stock brought in from elsewhere.
- They are honest about technique: a good workshop tells you which pieces are hand-printed and which are screen-printed, and which colours are natural and which are chemical.
- They set their own prices: the price is the maker's, stated plainly, with no special guest rate that hides a driver's cut.
- They want visitors: some families love to teach and some would rather work in peace. We only bring guests to people who enjoy it.
- There is no pressure: if we hear of guests being pushed to buy, or followed to the car, we stop going.
- We go back ourselves: our planners and guides visit regularly, out of season too, so we know who has retired, who has a new apprentice and whose son now runs the dye vats.
- We listen to guests: we ask how each workshop felt, and what guests tell us shapes where we go next season.
The commission trap, and how to spot it
The cold drink: a showroom that hands you a soft drink and a seat before you have asked for anything is usually paying someone for your visit.
The demonstration on a loop: one carver or one weaver at the door, and a vast hall of stock behind him that he did not make.
- The usual bait
- A free visit, a factory price, a cooperative
- Who pays
- You, through a higher price
- Who loses
- The maker, who gets a small share
- Our answer
- Guides paid by us, no commission at all
- The certificate: a laminated card saying government approved proves nothing. Ask who made the piece and in which village.
- The shipping promise: be careful of anyone who insists you pay in full today for a carpet that will be shipped later. Reputable makers explain the process and give you paperwork.
- The gem scheme: never agree to carry stones for anyone, or to buy gems to resell at home. Jaipur's oldest scam begins with a friendly stranger and a story about export quotas.
- How to say no: a polite no thank you and a walk-away is enough. In a bazaar it is normal, and in a showroom it is the only defence.
Jaipur and its printing villages
Block printers of Bagru
Where: Bagru, about 30 km from Jaipur on the Ajmer road, home to printing families of the Chhipa community.
- What you see: dabu, a resist paste of clay, lime and gum, pressed on before the cloth goes into indigo, then iron-black syahi and madder-red begar.
- What we look for: families who still carve or commission hand blocks, dye in their own vats and dry cloth on the open ground.
- What you do: print your own length of cloth, which the family finishes and sends to your hotel.
Printers and paper-makers of Sanganer
Where: closer to the city, near the airport.
- Known for: fine florals and delicate lines printed on white, the prints of the old Jaipur court, and handmade paper from cotton rag.
- Why pair it with Bagru: two printing traditions a short drive apart, with completely different looks. Seeing both in a day is the best lesson in Rajasthani print.
Blue pottery studios
Not clay: Jaipur blue pottery is a paste of ground quartz, powdered glass, fuller's earth, borax and gum, shaped in moulds and fired once at a low temperature.
- The colours: cobalt blue and copper turquoise on white, from Turko-Persian roots.
- Revival: it nearly vanished and was revived from the mid-twentieth century, led by the artist Kripal Singh Shekhawat.
- Our choice: small studios where the pieces are shaped and painted on site, and where you can try a brush yourself.
Gem cutters and enamellers
The trade: Jaipur is one of the world's great centres for cutting coloured stones, especially emeralds, centred on Johari Bazaar, Gopalji ka Rasta and Haldiyon ka Rasta.
- The arts: meenakari, enamel fused onto gold and silver, and kundan, stones set in pure gold foil.
- Who we take you to: family jewellers we have known for decades, who give a written description and certification for any valuable stone.
Lac bangles of Maniharon ka Rasta
Where: a lane off Tripolia Bazaar in the walled city.
- What happens: families heat sticks of lac over small charcoal fires, roll them into bangles and press glass and stones in while the lac is warm.
- Why we love it: a set made to your wrist while you sit on the step is one of the most charming small purchases in Jaipur.
Painters, potters and storytellers of Mewar
Miniature painters of Udaipur
Where: studios in the old city around the Jagdish temple, a few minutes from the City Palace.
- The method: mineral and plant colours, gold, burnished paper, and brushes of a few squirrel hairs set in a quill.
- What we look for: painters who still grind their own pigments and will let you try a line, rather than shops selling printed copies as originals.
Pichwai painters of Nathdwara
Where: Chitron ki Gali, the street of paintings, near the Shrinathji temple, about an hour north of Udaipur.
- What a pichwai is: a large painted cloth hung behind Shrinathji, a child form of Krishna, changed with the seasons and festivals.
- Why care matters: printed copies are everywhere, so we take you to working studios where the brushwork shows under a lens.
Terracotta of Molela
Where: a village near Nathdwara.
- What they make: votive plaques of gods and folk heroes, shaped from clay of the Banas river, for village shrines.
- The visit: an unhurried hour in a potter's courtyard, watching a plaque take shape from a lump of earth.
Kavad makers of Bassi and the printers of Akola
Bassi: near Chittorgarh, carpenters make kavad, painted wooden shrines with folding doors that a storyteller opens one by one as the tale unfolds.
- Akola: in the villages around Akola, also near Chittorgarh, printers keep their own dabu tradition in indigo and earth colours.
- Worth the detour: both suit a slow day between Udaipur and the forts of Mewar.
Dyers, weavers and embroiderers of the desert
Bandhani tiers of Jodhpur
Where: the old city lanes around the clock tower in Jodhpur.
- What they do: pinch thousands of tiny points of cloth and knot them before dyeing, leaving a pattern of dots.
- How to tell real from printed: hand-tied bandhani has slightly raised points where the knots were. Printed copies are flat.
Durrie weavers of Salawas
Where: a village about half an hour south of Jodhpur.
- What they weave: durries, flat cotton and wool rugs, on pit looms in family courtyards.
- Buying: a durrie folds small and travels well, and the weavers will tell you how long yours took.
Potters of the Bishnoi villages
Who: potters in the villages outside Jodhpur, which we pair with a morning among the Bishnoi.
- What they make: porous water pots that keep drinking water cool through the summer.
- Why it moves people: it is craft as daily necessity, made the same way for generations.
Embroiderers and appliqué makers of Barmer
Where: the villages around Barmer, among the great embroidery centres of India.
- Who: women of the Meghwal, Rabari and other communities, each with its own motifs and stitches.
- What they make: mirror work, chain stitch and cut-cloth appliqué on skirts, veils, quilts and dowry bags.
- How we visit: in the villages or through the groups the women work with, rather than a showroom in Jaisalmer.
Usta artists of Bikaner
The craft: raised gold-leaf designs painted on camel-hide lamps and bottles, and on palace walls.
- The name: usta comes from the family of artists who worked for the Bikaner court.
- Where to see it: in a working studio in Bikaner, and in the painted rooms of Junagarh Fort.
The looms of Kaithoon and the brushes of Bundi
Kota Doria: at Kaithoon near Kota, weavers make a gossamer cotton, sometimes mixed with silk, in a fine square check on pit looms.
A protected name: Kota Doria carries a Geographical Indication tag, so the name belongs to cloth from this region.
- Buy from the loom: we take you to weavers and their cooperatives, where you see the cloth being made and pay the people who made it.
- Bundi painting: a few serious painters still work in the Bundi style of monsoon clouds, lotus ponds and round-faced women. Our guides know which are artists and which are souvenir sellers.
- See the originals first: the murals of the Chitrashala in Bundi Palace show what the living painters are reaching for.
Kota Doria in more depth
- The weave: the check, called khat, comes from grouping cotton and silk threads in both directions.
- How to tell: hand-woven cloth has small irregularities in the check that power-loom copies lack.
What a workshop morning looks like
Arrival: your guide introduces you by name, the family offers tea, and you sit for a few minutes before anyone picks up a tool.
The whole chain: we ask families to show the craft from the start, the carved block, the dye, the loom set-up, so you see the hours behind the finished piece.
- Length
- Two to four hours
- Best hour
- Mid-morning, once the day's work has begun
- Group size
- Just your party, never a coach
- Wear
- Clothes you don't mind marking
- Children
- Very welcome, and usually the happiest
- Your turn: most workshops let you try. Your first block print will be crooked and the family will laugh kindly.
- Questions welcome: your guide translates, and the best mornings turn into long conversations about grandparents, weddings and how the trade has changed.
- Buying, if you want to: prices are stated plainly by the maker. There is no pitch, and you are free to leave with nothing.
- Time well spent: a good visit is unhurried. We plan one workshop a morning, so nobody watches the clock and the family can show you the work properly.
- Shipping: many families ship larger pieces, and we help arrange packing and shipping with people we trust, keeping a record of what you bought and from whom.
Buying well and paying fairly
Block print: look for tiny irregularities where the blocks meet, and for colour that has soaked through to the back. Screen prints are perfectly even and sit on the surface.
Bandhani: feel for raised points where the knots were tied.
- Kota Doria: look for small irregularities in the check, the mark of a hand loom.
- Blue pottery: genuine pieces are light and slightly uneven, never heavy and glassy like moulded ceramic.
- Pichwai and miniatures: a magnifying glass shows brushwork. Printed copies show dots.
- Gems: buy valuable stones only from established jewellers who give a written description and certification, and never as an investment.
- Bargaining: normal in the bazaar, out of place in a maker's home. In a workshop, ask the price and, if it is beyond you, say so kindly and choose something smaller.
- Antiques: please don't buy old carved doors, brackets or painted panels from dealers. Many are stripped from abandoned havelis.
Our buying guides
Before Bagru: our block print buying guide.
- Before Johari Bazaar: our gem shopping tips and Rajasthani jewellery guide.
- Before a pottery studio: our blue pottery buying guide.
- For everything else: our shopping guide to Rajasthan.
Being a good guest in a workshop
Ask before photographing: especially women embroidering or tying bandhani. Most say yes when asked.
Hands off until invited: don't touch wet cloth, dye vats or blocks. Dyes stain and good blocks are precious.
- Shoes: take them off if the family does.
- Accept the tea: it is part of the visit, and refusing it can seem cold.
- No handouts: please don't give money or sweets to children in craft villages. Ask us about the schools and projects our guests support instead.
- Dress modestly: shoulders and knees covered in village homes, as you would in a temple.
- Share fairly: if you post photographs, say where they were taken and who made the work. It brings the family custom, not copies.
Further reading on etiquette
- Dress and manners: our guide to etiquette and dress in Rajasthan.
- Travelling lightly: how we think about travelling responsibly.
When to plan a craft journey
October to March: dry skies, so cloth dries fast and printers work at full pace. The drying fields of Bagru are at their most beautiful on a bright winter morning.
December: the crafts fair at Shilpgram in Udaipur brings makers from across western India.
- Best months
- October to March
- December
- The Shilpgram crafts fair, Udaipur
- Monsoon
- Leheriya and Teej colours in the bazaars
- Summer
- Early-morning visits only
- April to June: the heat slows everything, so we plan workshop visits for the early morning.
- July to September: the season of Teej and leheriya, when the bazaars fill with wave-dyed saris and turbans. Printing slows when cloth cannot dry.
- Wedding season, November to February: jewellers, tailors and turban-makers are at their busiest, and the bazaars at their liveliest.
Who will love a craft journey
Designers and collectors: you will want days, not hours. Our textile and craft trail runs from the printing tables of Jaipur to the looms of Kota and the dyers of Jodhpur.
Families: children love printing their own cloth, painting a tile and having bangles made to fit.
- Couples: the quieter studios suit you, a painter's room in Udaipur or a pichwai studio in Nathdwara.
- The short of time: one morning in Bagru and an hour at the Anokhi Museum give you the heart of it.
- Travellers who care where their money goes: these are usually the mornings guests remember longest.
- Not for you if: you want a single shop with everything under one roof. That shop exists, and it is the one we avoid.
Start here
- The overview: our page on block printing and the crafts of Rajasthan.
- Where to buy cloth: our textile shopping guide.