Dastkar Ranthambore Shop

Dastkar Ranthambore is a craft-revival project run by Dastkar, the Delhi-based not-for-profit society for craftspeople established in 1981. Beginning in 1991, the project focused on villages around the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan's Sawai-Madhopur district, an area where local artisans had largely abandoned traditional skills in favor of agricultural labor. Dastkar's intervention centered on reviving Bandhani tie-dye textile work: at the project's start there were around 100 Bandhani workers in the district; today there are more than 2,000. The project established a dedicated Crafts Centre, the Dastkari Kendra, where designers from India's National Institute of Design and National Institute of Fashion Technology ran training in contemporary product development, tailoring, cutting and sizing, indigo and natural dye techniques, and pottery firing and glazing. The economic impact has been direct and measured: average monthly earnings that stood around Rs. 500 before the project now range from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 6,000, and the project's annual turnover grew from Rs. 22 lakhs to Rs. 1.29 crore within seven years. Beyond income, the Kendra expanded into a broader community hub, hosting legal aid, health and adult literacy sessions - work Dastkar credits with easing caste divisions that existed in the area before the project began.