Finding handicrafts in Mumbai is such a lovely experience, isn’t it? All those brass, clay, pots, carved wood, mirror frames, jewellery, fabric, it makes us want to buy them all. While handicraft stores are aplenty, there are a handful of those that promote local artisans. We went around town to check these out.
Crafted With Love: These Mumbai Handicraft Stores Promote Local Artisans
Avante Cottage Crafts
This store in Colaba wins our heart for 2 reasons – the affordable pricing and the wide range of products that are available for sale. They source their products from around the country, making this store a diverse catalog of the country's cultural heritage. Choose from bright fabrics, colourful paintings, hand-painted papier mache boxes, decorative items, ceramics and a lot more! In fact, we recently picked up a handcrafted leather notebook from this store.
Artisans’ Art Gallery And Shop
This boutique gallery opened in 2011 in Fort, and gave a platform to local artisans and designers to showcase their work to the urban customers. The aim to start this gallery was to enable learning and dialogue between the local artists and craftsmen, and the audience. This store displays fine-quality handmade items that include women's apparel, scarves, jewellery, books, city maps and bags, all of which are for sale.
#LBBTip - keep an eye out for their exhibitions and workshops on pottery and calligraphy.
Mela Handicrafts
This store inside R City Mall offers arts and products from all over India. If you’re looking for quirky, traditional and unique home décor products, this store comes highly recommended. The owner, Mrs. Sheetal Seth, travels all across India to collect art and crafts from rural artisans and craftsmen and displays all the work here in Mumbai. Walk in to choose from fashion accessories, fabrics, jewellery, textiles, home décor items, and a lot more.
Creative Handicrafts
This is an NGO-based in Mumbai, and runs with the mission to empower disadvantaged women in India. Known for their service and quick turnaround time, they cater to clients all over the world. You can choose from a wide range of apparels, wallets, pouches, fashion accessories and bags at the stores in Bandra, Powai and Andheri. They call themselves a women self-employment centre, and help employ women artisans from all over the country.
Craft Circle
Craft Circle is a gorgeous store selling stunning handcrafted apparels, accessories and home décor. Under the handcrafted apparels section, they have edgy sarees, stoles and fabrics. Their accessories section has an impressive collection of wallets, clutches, pouches, bags and handcrafted jewellery {chunky jewellery, anyone?} their awesome home décor section has a graceful collection of bedsheets, quilts, doormats, bedspreads, and rugs too. We think Craft Circle is doing a wonderful job promoting ethical trade. They source their collection directly from artisans or from non-profit or social enterprises.