Anokhi

Anokhi was founded in Jaipur in 1970 by John and Faith Singh, who set out to revitalize the city's traditional hand block-printing trade at a time when it faced decline. The Singhs built long-term working relationships with local craftspeople -- block carvers, printers, dyers, embroiderers and bead workers -- organized around a stated commitment to sustained, year-round work rather than seasonal piecework, which the company has described as a model for ethical craft-industry business practice. What began as a small clothing range grew to include bedding, quilts and other home textiles, translating classical Rajasthani block-printing patterns into contemporary silhouettes for an international market; Anokhi pieces are now stocked as far afield as England, Paris, Kyoto, San Francisco and Bogotá. In 2005 the company extended its mission beyond retail by founding the Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing in Jaipur, a dedicated institution preserving the history of block-printed textiles and documenting the technique for contemporary audiences. More than fifty years on, the Anokhi archive is described by the company as representing over five decades of continuous design collaboration with the craft sector, and the Jaipur flagship on Prithviraj Road remains the clearest point of contact between that archive and the working artisans who still produce it by hand.