Handmade Jaipur: A trip for curious hands and creative minds.

🕑: 10:00 AM - 08:00 PM Day 1 (Feb 15) Info: The bustling, beautiful city of Jaipur will be ready to envelop us in its embrace, but we’ll take a moment to pause. We’ll hold space to honour all that we do at home, and ground ourselves in the present moment to prepare for the exciting days to come.

Part of the spirit of this program is to scratch beneath the surface of simply visiting a place with other people. Our curation of workshops will introduce you to some of the artists and artisans who are behind the beauty of India. And our morning circles and ceremonies will bring you closer to your cohort and yourself.

Our first morning will be used to orient ourselves to India and Jaipur, including going over some cultural dos and don’ts. We’ll get to know each other as a group and share our intentions for joining the program and our hopes for the days to come.

Bharat, from Jaipur Houses, will take us on one of his architectural walks in the early afternoon. We’ll discover the historic fortified city of Amber, the former

🕑: 08:00 AM - 09:00 PM Day 2 (Feb 16) Info: Today we’ll visit Nila House, an initiative that aims to preserve and celebrate India’s rich heritage of traditional crafts. While at Nila (literally meaning Indigo or Blue, in Hindi) we will focus on the art of Indigo Dyeing, learning from local artisans about this ancient, sustainable tradition that is now used by larger industries in an unsustainable way.

This workshop is a full day of solid fun and we’ll all leave with our hands and hearts dyed blue.

🕑: 06:00 AM - 08:00 PM Day 3 (Feb 17) Info: Before the sun even rises this morning, we’ll head out to meet Pushpendra, the wonderful and unique owner of the Jaipur Inn, a family run hotel in Jaipur. Pushpendra has lived in Jaipur his entire life and he’ll introduce us to the Jaipur of locals: we’ll walk through hidden alleyways in the city as it begins to wake up, join Krishna devotees as they dance and sing joyfully in praise, and eat delicious (and safe) street food!

Later in the day we’ll visit Round Them Oranges, an independent art gallery in Jaipur and learn about the contemporary art scene in Jaipur. The gallery was once the family home of the owner and is in a stunning location overlooking the famous Johri Bazar or Jeweller’s market. We’ll use the space for a surprise activity ;)

🕑: 08:00 AM - 09:00 PM Day 4 - 5 (Feb 18-19) Info: The Chhipa community of Bagru (a town on the outskirts of Jaipur) has been practicing woodblock printing, an integral part of Rajasthan’s textile history for over 400 years. You’ll spend two days with Vijendra and his son Yash, learning the ins and outs of blockprinting directly from the artisans. You’ll see the process from start to finish, including meeting the communities that create the block prints & the dyes, and those who do the block printing. This hands-on workshop will give you the opportunity to do some blockprinting yourself, getting a real feel for this incredible art form.

On our way back to the city we’ll stop at the Jawahar Kala Kendra, an arts centre, and use the incredible space to reflect on our days so far and do some solo reflections. We’ll grab some snacks at the Indian Coffee House and explore the space, designed by Charles Correa, an Indian architect and urban planner.

🕑: 08:00 AM - 09:00 PM Day 6 (Feb 20) Info: Jaipur’s streets are littered with jewellery shops and is known to many as a haven for jewels. We’ll meet up with Bharat once again and go on a jewellery focused walk, meeting with jewellers to learn about their process and craft. Jewellery, and even just gold and silver, hold a unique importance for Indians and we’ll explore what that is and how it plays out in contemporary India.

Tonight we’ll dive into the art of food. Rajasthan has a rich culinary heritage and it seems only logical that we get our hands messy and our bellies full!

🕑: 08:00 AM - 09:00 PM Day 7 (Feb 21) Info: Today we’ll visit the home of Kripal Singh Shekhawat, fondly known as the Father of Blue Pottery. What we know and recognise as blue pottery today would not be possible without him. He revived the all but forgotten art form in the early 1960s, tinkering and tweaking the process, essentially reinventing it as he worked. Though he has now passed away, his wonderful daughters have kept the tradition, and his studio, alive.

We’ll do a workshop in their family home, focusing on the painting aspect of the art, but learning all about the entire process with their wonderful staff of artists.

🕑: 08:00 AM - 09:00 PM Day 8 (Feb 22) Info: Our instrument of choice today will be a paintbrush made from the fine, precious hairs of squirrels. Riyaz Uddin, a renowned miniature painter, will walk us through the bylanes of his neighbourhood and invite us into his family home. We’ll gather in his home studio and have the opportunity to watch a true master at work. Him and his nephew, also his protege, will talk us through the process of this delicate art before we pick up the paint brushes ourselves.

🕑: 08:00 AM - 09:00 PM Day 9 (Feb 23) Info: We’ll return to Riyaz’s studio to continue our adventures in miniature painting, but not before a morning of dancing on the rooftop of the Jaipur Inn (Pushpendra’s hotel). It’ll feel good to move our bodies in big, expansive ways, and then settle into stillness.

In the evening we’ll visit Raj Mandir, Jaipur’s iconic art deco cinema palace. Raj Mandir is more than just a movie th