As you drive out southwest of Jaipur, toward Bagru, away from urban city bustle, the bright sights and sounds fading into a wide expanse of rural farmland, fresh air, roaming herds of cattle, antelope, and camels, birds sweeping the sky – a sense of calm takes its place. It’s here, on the periphery, that you will find the workshop of Wabisabi Project – a studio devoted to preserving the legacy of traditional block printing and natural dyes. 

Trip participant and textile artist Jessie Mordine Young shares an in depth account of our homestay in the Rif Mountains, creating ceramics with Mama Aicha and her family.

Photos by Kate Berry for Thread Caravan.

An exploration of henna pigment extraction during a natural dyes workshop with Ahmed in southern Morocco. Written by Maria Jose Gomez and photographed by Andrea Tamayo for Thread Caravan.

Some of us at Thread Caravan have been working through The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, and it has opened up space for reflection on what it means to live a creative life. Here we share some of our reflections, and invite you to walk this creative path..

Himanshu Verma is an arts curator, artist, and independent scholar based in Jaipur. He leads heritage walks across the country and is the founder of Red Earth, an independent arts organisation that works with Indian contemporary visual art, design as well as diverse forms of cultural expression. Here, he discussed Jaipur’s best kept secret: Vastu.

In Thread Caravan’s inaugural Crafts of Kutch experience, participants were fully immersed into the rich and storied craft traditions of Gujarat’s Kutch region, a land shaped by centuries of nomadic movements, trade, and artistic heritage. Over the course of eight days, we connected with master artisans and learned textile techniques through hands-on learning experiences. Below, we dive into the unique experiences included in the trip itinerary.