Funding Craft-led Innovators

Mapping Shifts Shaping the Future of Handmade.

Co-Design Kula ‘25 with Us

What is Kula Innovate?

A sector-first Innovation Challenge designed to bridge the massive funding gap for R&D across craft-based value chains.

We support bold new ideas led by India’s next-gen innovators shaping the future of 'Handmade of India'.

Connect with the best minds shaping the future of craft, community, and capital

Key Impact Tracks

Calling out Gen-Next Innovators solving urgent challenges in:

Climate Action

Circular, Waste to Wealth Models
Sustainable Materials & Packaging
Regenerative Travel & Experiences
Biodiversity & Conservation
Low-tech, Indigenous technologies

Inclusive Growth

Reimagine Access for all
Communities, Network Platforms
Arts / Crafts for Wellbeing
Next-Gen Jobs, Skilling,
Craft Revival 2.0

Future-Ready Systems

Consumer Education, Awareness
Transparency + Traceability
Craft-Tech, Emerging Tech
Conscious Design & Retail,
Creative Impact Media

Meet the Jury'25

Sector-wide experts who have came forward to support innovation-led craft futures.

Chintan Bakshi

Partner, IIM-A Ventures

Kavita Parmar

Founder, IOWEYOU.CC and XTANT.IO

Ellen
Fish

Founder, R.I.S.E Artisan Fund

Mrudul Pathak

Editor,
ELLE DECOR, India

Manish Saksena

Business Lead,
Aadyam Handwoven,
An Aditya Birla Initiative

Srila Chatterjee

Founder, Baro Market & Gallery 47A

Stacey
Edgar

Executive Director, International Folk Art Market, Santa Fe

Dr. Toolika Gupta

Executive Director, Indian Institute of Crafts and Design, Jaipur

Ms. Pooja Manek

Founding Member and Creative, Talented.Agency

Mini
Menon

Co-Founder of
Peepul Tree

Ms. Sahana Jose

Chief Community Officer, Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies

Winners of 2025

Craft Revival 2.0 Winners
Nila Award Winners
Artisan Innovator Winners
Emerging Innovator Winners
Creative Media Winners

Craft Revival 2.0 emerged from our first year meeting inspiring craft enterprises across India—many with vision but limited funding. In 2025, we supported six pan-India enterprises from underrepresented regions advancing craft through innovative design, sustainable practices, and contemporary approaches to tradition.

The Wool Knitters is revitalising Himalayan wool traditions by building a circular value chain around local fibres. Rooted in community and craftsmanship, it empowers rural artisans through sustainable livelihoods while preserving rare hand-spinning, weaving, and Tsug den techniques.

The Innovation

The Wool Knitters works with pastoralists and artisans to convert low-value local wool into high-quality handmade textiles. Through training, fair pay, and market access, they restore traditional wool crafts while creating sustainable, climate-positive rural livelihoods.

Craft Revival 2.0 emerged from our first year meeting inspiring craft enterprises across India—many with vision but limited funding. In 2025, we supported six pan-India enterprises from underrepresented regions advancing craft through innovative design, sustainable practices, and contemporary approaches to tradition.

Samakhya revives traditional pastoral fibre knowledge by transforming indigenous wool into climate-friendly insulation. Partnering with over 500 nomadic sheep herders in underserved regions, it creates sustainable livelihoods, restores value to rural wool economies, and integrates artisanal craft into modern, high-performance building materials.

The Innovation

Samakhya’s MAGRA process upcycles coarse Indian sheep wool, previously discarded, into carbon-negative, durable insulation. By combining heritage fibre techniques with modern design and technology, it strengthens rural craft economies, promotes sustainable interiors, and contributes to energy-efficient, healthier urban environments.

Craft Revival 2.0 emerged from our first year meeting inspiring craft enterprises across India—many with vision but limited funding. In 2025, we supported six pan-India enterprises from underrepresented regions advancing craft through innovative design, sustainable practices, and contemporary approaches to tradition.

October Pumpkin-shi Pvt Ltd produces soy candles housed in handcrafted Longpi Black Pottery jars made by Tangkhul Naga artisans. They preserve the craft, generate artisan income, and deliver sustainable, premium home fragrance products.

The Innovation

October Pumpkin-shi combines traditional Longpi pottery with R&D-optimized soy wax that prevents tunneling and sooting. Candles are biodegradable, refillable, and paired with artisan stories, ensuring clean, safe burns while preserving craft, promoting sustainability, and creating measurable social impact for artisan communities.

Craft Revival 2.0 emerged from our first year meeting inspiring craft enterprises across India—many with vision but limited funding. In 2025, we supported six pan-India enterprises from underrepresented regions advancing craft through innovative design, sustainable practices, and contemporary approaches to tradition.

Established in 1978 by the Holkar Royal Family, REHWA Society preserves Maheshwari handloom textiles and revives rare weaving traditions like Garbh Reshmi. Working with fewer than 200 weaving families, many of whom descend from artisans once patronized by Devi Ahilyabai, REHWA provides women artisans with sustainable, skill-based livelihoods while safeguarding a centuries-old craft heritage.

The Innovation

REHWA revitalizes the rare Garbh Reshmi weave by training new artisans in pajni (street-sizing), warp preparation, and ochna, restoring the sari’s signature lightness and finesse. By combining meticulous craftsmanship with modern market relevance, REHWA strengthens livelihoods, revives demand for Maheshwari saris, and ensures the cultural and economic resilience of the Maheshwar weaving community.

Craft Revival 2.0 emerged from our first year meeting inspiring craft enterprises across India—many with vision but limited funding. In 2025, we supported six pan-India enterprises from underrepresented regions advancing craft through innovative design, sustainable practices, and contemporary approaches to tradition.

Mianzi revives traditional bamboo craft by combining heritage techniques with design-led interventions, CAD tools, and modular craft kits. Working with women artisans and rural communities in Madhya Pradesh, it enables home-based production of high-quality furniture and lighting for global markets, strengthening livelihoods, preserving endangered skills, reducing waste, and building sustainable, future-ready craft ecosystems.

The Innovation

Mianzi’s modular kits and computational tools allow artisans to produce scalable, precise, and durable bamboo products. By integrating traditional weaving and splitting techniques with modern design, it boosts productivity, ensures quality, and demonstrates how heritage craft can thrive in industrialized, design-driven markets

Craft Revival 2.0 emerged from our first year meeting inspiring craft enterprises across India—many with vision but limited funding. In 2025, we supported six pan-India enterprises from underrepresented regions advancing craft through innovative design, sustainable practices, and contemporary approaches to tradition.

Varnam Craft Collective reinterprets traditional Indian crafts with a playful, contemporary aesthetic. Beginning with Channapatna’s 200-year-old toy-making tradition, it now collaborates with communities across regions from Kashmir and Sitlingi to Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Through story-led, functional collections, Varnam revives endangered crafts, strengthens livelihoods, expands markets, and builds resilient, future-ready craft ecosystems.

The Innovation

Varnam blends heritage techniques—Channapatna lac-turnery, Lambadi embroidery, naqqashi enamel, block printing, Punja weaving and more—with modern design. Its playful, functional approach reimagines traditional skills for contemporary living, creating aspirational products while keeping artisans central to a thriving craft economy.

The Nila House Innovation Awards support visionary craft enterprises reimagining India’s handmade traditions through innovation with a focus on dignified livelihoods and resilience, sustainable materials and processes, craft preservation and revival, and community empowerment and inclusion.

KASKOM revitalizes India’s indigenous rainfed cotton systems, producing chemical-free, handspun, and handwoven fabrics. It supports farmer-owned enterprises, ensures fair incomes, and promotes low-carbon, sustainable textiles while preserving traditional seeds and weaving practices in rural communities.

The Innovation

KASKOM’s “soil-to-fabric” model intercrops native cotton with food crops, integrates livestock, converts stalks to biochar for carbon sequestration, and uses decentralized processing. This regenerates soil, enhances biodiversity, builds climate-resilient livelihoods, and delivers traceable, ethical fabrics connecting conscious consumers directly with regenerative agriculture and artisan production.

The Nila House Innovation Awards support visionary craft enterprises reimagining India’s handmade traditions through innovation with a focus on dignified livelihoods and resilience, sustainable materials and processes, craft preservation and revival, and community empowerment and inclusion.

Kaayaka Craft & Livelihood Foundation empowers 125 women artisans in northern Karnataka, reviving Ilkal and Khana weaving and Khowdi handquilting. Its brands, Kubsa and Tavaru, deliver heritage sarees, apparel, and home products while sustaining artisan livelihoods.

The Innovation

Kaayaka enables women artisans to upcycle discarded fabrics into contemporary Khowdi quilts and lifestyle products. Through design-led interventions and skill-building, it preserves traditional handcraft techniques, creates self-sustaining production systems, and markets culturally authentic, environmentally sustainable products under the Tavaru brand.

The Nila House Innovation Awards support visionary craft enterprises reimagining India’s handmade traditions through innovation with a focus on dignified livelihoods and resilience, sustainable materials and processes, craft preservation and revival, and community empowerment and inclusion.

Pari Handloom works in the extra-weft weaving tradition, known for its detailed motifs and cultural symbolism. Using Kala cotton and Desi wool, it  handweaves high-quality textiles ranging from sarees and dress materials to home furnishing fabrics. The practice keeps ancestral weaving alive while building an independent craft-led livelihood rooted in Kutch’s textile heritage.

The Innovation

They are now opening a new market for Kutch weaving by transforming it for home interiors. They redesigned the loom layout to handweave standardized bed cushions, sofa cushions, curtains, and throws using natural fibres and natural dyes — a category that didn’t exist in this cluster before.

The Nila House Innovation Awards support visionary craft enterprises reimagining India’s handmade traditions through innovation with a focus on dignified livelihoods and resilience, sustainable materials and processes, craft preservation and revival, and community empowerment and inclusion.

Vidyashree is from Shivapete village in Belagavi, where weaving has been a family tradition for generations. She learned to weave from her parents and spent years making shirt fabric and towels before marriage interrupted her work. She eventually returned to the loom alongside her father-in-law as a wage worker with the Karnataka Handloom Development Corporation. Today, she creates women’s apparel in fine and brown cotton and is growing as an independent weaver.

The Innovation

Vidyashree uses traditional handloom skills to design clothing for modern wardrobes. Her practice has evolved from wage-based towel weaving to creating apparel in indigenous brown cotton with her own design language.

The 200M Artisan Innovator Awards celebrate artisan entrepreneurs advancing craft through innovative design, sustainable materials, and preservation.

Practicing terracotta pinch pottery since the age of three, Dolon now teaches this tactile, wheel-free craft to 350 people. She passes on the joy of shaping clay by hand and keeping an ancient tradition alive through community learning.

The Innovation

She transforms the simple pinch pottery technique into expressive figurines, jewellery, and carved diyas (sculpted only with her fingertips!). Each piece captures emotion and mythology, proving that slow, handmade detail can still speak powerfully in a fast world.

The 200M Artisan Innovator Awards celebrate artisan entrepreneurs advancing craft through innovative design, sustainable materials, and preservation.

Six Brothers Glass Artist brings a bold twist to Firozabad’s glass craft by pairing flamework and hand-blown techniques with intricate threadwork to create striking, fashion-forward jewelry proving heritage glassmaking can compete in today’s global design scene.

The Innovation

Six Brothers Glass Artist revitalizes traditional glassmaking by combining expert flamework and hand-blown glass techniques with intricate artisan threadwork to create distinctive, modern jewelry pieces. Their practice preserves the rich heritage of Firozabad’s glass craft while introducing fresh design elements that appeal to contemporary markets.

Introduced in 2025, the Emerging Innovator Jury Award recognised 6 idea-stage, innovators who show strong potential for driving impact and innovation for India’s handmade futures. 

Pusaaka is a D2C platform and production company transforming India’s traditional crafts into globally relevant, limited-edition wearable art. It partners directly with master artisans, combining sustainable materials, design intervention, and skill development to preserve heritage while creating premium market opportunities.

The Innovation

Pusaaka’s innovation lies in co-creating artisan-led, branded products (Artisan Name X Pusaaka) and digitizing craft knowledge through multilingual e-courses. By integrating design, sustainability, and education, it simultaneously generates new income streams for artisans and safeguards endangered techniques for future generations.

Introduced in 2025, the Emerging Innovator Jury Award recognised 6 idea-stage, innovators who show strong potential for driving impact and innovation for India’s handmade futures. 

new•blue is a craft innovation and circular design company creating contemporary furniture and objects by reviving 18th-century crafts like Jaipur Blue Pottery. It transforms industrial waste into functional, heritage-inspired pieces, bringing traditional techniques with material innovation.

The Innovation

new•blue has developed a new material recipe that allows Jaipur Blue Pottery to be crafted into larger, durable furniture pieces. By incorporating industrial waste into this traditional craft, it creates sustainable, high-value products that advance circular design in artisanal manufacturing.new•blue has developed a new material recipe that allows Jaipur Blue Pottery to be crafted into larger, durable furniture pieces. By incorporating industrial waste into this traditional craft, it creates sustainable, high-value products that advance circular design in artisanal manufacturing.

Introduced in 2025, the Emerging Innovator Jury Award recognised 6 idea-stage, innovators who show strong potential for driving impact and innovation for India’s handmade futures. 

Tokar Sustainable Designs creates contemporary, flat-pack bamboo furniture that is lightweight, durable, and eco-friendly. Partnering with Kotwalia artisans from South Gujarat, Tokar combines design innovation with traditional skill to promote sustainable living and dignified livelihoods for indigenous communities.

The Innovation

Tokar pioneers a bamboo-based range of Ready-to-Assemble furniture—lightweight, functional, and easy to move. Addressing the demand for sustainable home solutions, it redefines flat-pack design by merging climate-conscious materials with aesthetics, convenience, and artisan-led craftsmanship for modern living.

Introduced in 2025, the Emerging Innovator Jury Award recognised 6 idea-stage, innovators who show strong potential for driving impact and innovation for India’s handmade futures. 

Anam Husain works with Indian artisans to create unique, contemporary wearable art. By introducing design interventions in traditional crafts and fashion waste, the brand revitalizes craft clusters, supports livelihoods, and makes artisanal products relevant to modern, conscious consumers.

The Innovation

Anam Husain Studio transforms Indian crafts – block printing, bandhani, brocade – and fashion waste – leather discards, and denim— into one-of-a-kind wearable art. By combining design intervention with circularity, it creates eco-conscious, contemporary products while generating additional income for artisans.

Introduced in 2025, the Emerging Innovator Jury Award recognised 6 idea-stage, innovators who show strong potential for driving impact and innovation for India’s handmade futures. 

The Creative Platter is a women-led artisanal tableware brand redefining modern dining through handcrafted ceramics and mixed-material design. Rooted in sustainability and storytelling, it empowers rural women artisans to marry India’s craft heritage with contemporary global aesthetics.

The Innovation

The Creative Platter introduces a scalable model for handcrafted tableware—combining ceramics, wood, stone, and metal through design-led collaboration with rural women artisans. Its innovation lies in merging traditional craftsmanship with modern production systems to deliver sustainable and globally competitive artisanal diningware.

Introduced in 2025, the Emerging Innovator Jury Award recognised 6 idea-stage, innovators who show strong potential for driving impact and innovation for India’s handmade futures. 

Earthen Tunes creates sustainable footwear from indigenous Desi Oon blankets, responsibly sourced from pastoral and weaving communities. By combining traditional materials with contemporary design, it supports artisans’ livelihoods while offering eco-friendly, cross-subsidized shoes for both urban consumers and rural farmers.

The Innovation

Earthen Tunes turns handwoven Indian wool into tough, weather-smart shoes built for the long days farmers spend on their feet. Breathable, odor-free, and comfortable without socks, they bring back the value of local wool while giving farmers healthier, lighter, and more sustainable mobility.

Introduced in 2025, the Emerging Innovator Jury Award recognised 6 idea-stage, innovators who show strong potential for driving impact and innovation for India’s handmade futures. 

Green Hermitage is a women-led luxury brand specializing in handcrafted handbags and travel accessories made from apple, cactus, and coconut leather. It empowers women artisans in India, delivering durable, eco-conscious products that merge contemporary design with sustainable plant-based materials.

The Innovation

Green Hermitage innovates by developing plant-based leather alternatives to conventional and synthetic leathers. Its products minimize environmental impact, eliminate animal exploitation, and incorporate slow-fashion principles, while supporting women artisans. They transform sustainable materials into stylish, premium, and globally relevant luxury accessories.

Introduced in 2025, the Emerging Innovator Jury Award recognised 6 idea-stage, innovators who show strong potential for driving impact and innovation for India’s handmade futures. 

Finalists Deserving Recognition

The Creative Impact Media Accelerator will support media creators, storytellers, and enterprises amplifying the role of craft in shaping sustainable futures. In partnership with Earthbound and 200 Million Artisans, this track will back those using media to amplify craft-led brands, shift narratives around artisan communities, and scale cultural and social impact through creativity.

Project Folk-Log revives Indian folk stories through an interactive edu-tainment platform that combines regional art forms with craft. It fosters cultural learning, family engagement, and crafts-based employment for marginalised communities, connecting traditional artisans, urban unskilled labour, and students in a self-sustaining loop of skill-sharing and livelihood creation.

Project Description

Folklogue Art Foundation, the NGO vertical of Folklogue Studios, creates craft products inspired by folk stories and folk art as part of its edutainment app, FolkLog. The project brings storytelling back into children’s lives while connecting traditional artisans, urban unskilled labour, and students in a self-sustaining loop of skill-sharing. Products are designed as toys, décor, and storytelling aids, enhancing craft visibility and creating sustainable livelihood opportunities for both artisans and learners.

The Creative Impact Media Accelerator will support media creators, storytellers, and enterprises amplifying the role of craft in shaping sustainable futures. In partnership with Earthbound and 200 Million Artisans, this track will back those using media to amplify craft-led brands, shift narratives around artisan communities, and scale cultural and social impact through creativity.

Dipra Arora is an industrial designer from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, specializing in ceramic and glass design. Her work focuses on creating meaningful designs that connect with people, working at the intersection of community, systems design, and co-creation. She explores how design can foster participatory, inclusive, and sustainable futures.

Project Description

The project highlights women artisans from the diminishing potter communities of Kutch, addressing their underrepresentation in Indian handicrafts. Using craft as a tool for autoethnography, it employs co-creation and asset-based community development approaches to empower women artisans to tell their own stories and assert agency over their cultural narratives.

The Creative Impact Media Accelerator will support media creators, storytellers, and enterprises amplifying the role of craft in shaping sustainable futures. In partnership with Earthbound and 200 Million Artisans, this track will back those using media to amplify craft-led brands, shift narratives around artisan communities, and scale cultural and social impact through creativity.

Nidhi Kamath is a National Award-winning filmmaker and founder of Indigo Reels, with over 13 years of experience creating films on Indian crafts and artisans for clients including Architectural Digest and BBC Storyworks. Her work focuses on visual storytelling that drives tangible social and environmental impact. She has been awarded the People’s Archive of Rural India Fellowship, Tata Travel Grant, and the British Council’s Crafting Futures program.

Project Description

Hands of Hope follows three individuals from indigenous communities in Kutch practicing their ancestral crafts. The film highlights their reliance on natural resources, the impact of climate change, and their resilience in preserving craft traditions amidst environmental and economic challenges.

The Creative Impact Media Accelerator will support media creators, storytellers, and enterprises amplifying the role of craft in shaping sustainable futures. In partnership with Earthbound and 200 Million Artisans, this track will back those using media to amplify craft-led brands, shift narratives around artisan communities, and scale cultural and social impact through creativity.

Rujuta Doshi is a documentary filmmaker and founder of Reels with Purpose, using visual storytelling to amplify marginalized voices and drive social change. Her work centers craft ecosystems, gender equity, and community-led innovation, demonstrating how stories can generate social and economic impact.

Project Description

The project highlights Khana Weaves, artisans in Guledgudda who have overcome the exploitative savkar system by building direct market access. Through documentaries, social media, and community engagement, the project showcases how strategic storytelling can serve as infrastructure for craft-led economic transformation.

The Creative Impact Media Accelerator will support media creators, storytellers, and enterprises amplifying the role of craft in shaping sustainable futures. In partnership with Earthbound and 200 Million Artisans, this track will back those using media to amplify craft-led brands, shift narratives around artisan communities, and scale cultural and social impact through creativity.

Likla Lall is an award-winning children’s book writer, author of Art is a Verb, Somnath Hore: Wounds, and Abanindranath's House of Stories. She collaborates with Antariksha Studio and Bengal Patachitra artists to bring folk stories to life through animation and transmedia experiences, blending traditional storytelling with contemporary media. Antariksha Studio, led by creative directors Avinash Kumar (Thiruda) and Sri Rama Murthy (Murthovic), creates video games, films, installations, and performances rooted in India’s multicultural heritage.

Project Description

The project develops transmedia experiences and contemporary narratives grounded in folk art practices. It facilitates collaboration between Bengal Patachitra artists Hasir and Manu Chitrakar and Antariksha Studio, creating new avenues for heritage art in modern storytelling.

2025 Impact at a Glance

199

Applications
received

48

Shortlisted
applications

25

Winners
announced

₹1.2

Crore funding catalysed

1.3k+

Livelihoods are
impacted by winners

45%

Innovating in Models, Processes & Services

71%

Open to
external capital

74%

of enterprises have over 50% women in their workforce

Supporters of Kula Innovate 

Supporters of Kula Innovate 

Craft revival 2.0

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Kula Innovate - Impact at a Glance

2024 set the stage. 2025 scales the movement.

02

Editions

400+

Applications

$250K

Capital mobilised

38

Innovators supported

50k+

Livelihoods impact

60.4%

Women-led businesses

Solution Focus

-

Circular Design, Clean Energy, Impact Media, Craft Revival 2.0, Artisan-led Innovation

Winning the Craft Revival 2.0 award is deeply validating.

Thank you to the Kula team for recognizing our work to preserve indigenous craft and strengthen livelihoods, and for motivating us to keep pushing forward with purpose.

Richon Kashung

Director, October Pumpkin-shi Private Limited

Thank you, Kula, for the 2025 Craft Revival Award.

This encouragement means a lot to grassroots social enterprises like ours, and the beautifully curated gathering left us inspired to do better.

Karthik Vaidyanathan

Founder, Varnam Craft Collective

Grateful to be recognised as an emerging brand under the Kula Innovate Jury Award.

The highlight for me at Kula? One-on-one mentorship from generous industry stalwarts.

Kanika Sahijwani

Founding & Creative Director, Pusaaka Ventures

The Artisan Innovator Award reflects the collective effort of everyone who supported me.

With determination and the right support, we can achieve our dreams. I'll keep striving to make a positive impact in the terracotta world.

Dolon Kundu Mondal

Maarttikee

Kula is building the ecosystem our industry needs to thrive today.

Participating in Kula Innovate 2025, and winning an award, was a truly transformative experience. Kula creates a vital space where key players collaborate and benefit from shared knowledge.

Geeta Patil

Founder & Creative Director, Kubsa

A proud member of the Kula Tribe.

Winning the Artha Impact Award at Kula Innovate 2025 was a crucial milestone in our startup journey. The platform enabled us to showcase our ideas and products to VCs, investors, and the wider ecosystem, leading to institutional funding and valuable network visibility.

Radhesh Agrahari

Founder & Director, Golden Feathers

Kula creates a magical space for Indian craft.

As part of the Earthbound-supported Accelerator through Kula Innovate, I was grateful for the opportunity to add a perspective on the collaborative role media can play, while engaging with tradition, sustainability, and innovation that shape our collective futures.

Likla Lall

Storyteller at Khel Theory

Kula Innovate Award was a confidence booster

Receiving the award at Kula not only gave me fresh ideas but also the courage to take my work foreard in new and meaningful directions.

Vankar Chetan Siju

Artisan Innovator, HDC Bhujodi

Award Ceremony

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