Clothing, Home Decor, Jewellery & More: 9 Reasons To Hit Up The Sasha Fair

Enter the exhibition hall, and the first thing that will catch your eye is the widely spread out stall with wooden kitchen ware. Medinipur's Shantikutir ,self-help group has created wooden chopping boards, trays, ladles, and coasters with mother of pearl accents, salad bowls and even tissue boxes. Made mostly out of neem wood, these are all affordably priced.

This aside, to sort your kitchen needs, look out for Rasa's range of tasty, organic masalas like bhuna ghost, biryani, shukto and others.

If the readily available not-so-original Afghan jewellery in the city impresses you, wait till you check out Peer Nazar Turknam's original handcrafted collection. Sourced straight from Afghanistan by expat Afghans in India, you'll find chunky chokers to elaborate cummerbunds and statement neck pieces. Slightly on the steep side, these start at INR 600 onwards.

The most important reason to hit up this fair, you'll get to score fantastic handloom cotton outfits and drapes that are rare finds in the city, let alone finding them under one roof! A must visit store, Malkha has handspun and handwoven khadi cotton yardage, kurtas and dresses in a variety of prints. Remember to pop in at the Khamir Arts stall to pick some fabulous kala cotton tunics, sarees, dresses, and shawls. Hit up Swedish lady Karin Kock's Sunbird stall to pick pure organic cotton handstitched and natural-dyed kids and adult wear. 

Kolkata-based NGO, Calcutta Rescue has a wonderful mish-mash of personal accessories that you will absolutely love indulging in. Upcycled scarves to colourful bendies, quirky embroidered shoe bags, coin purses, buntings, cloth bookmarks, key chains, and a whole lot more. We splurged ourselves on the beautiful saree-bound notebooks that come with a newpaper covered pencil and on the cool beaded wrist bands. 

The Entally Sasha Artisan Association is also must visit stall to pick up kantha-embroidered notebooks and silk scarves for a steal of INR 130! To pick something for your munchkins, check out Mesh for colourful stuff toys in cotton and quirky printed bags.

With artists coming from across the country, the Sasha annual fair is a great place to spot new innovations in craft and textiles. Rimil and Shunya's batik dresses completely bowled us over with their contemporary look. Not the typical Shantiniketan batik-school style, they have experimented with designs and patterns to lend a new look to this craft. Built in tassar, Bishnupuri silks, khadi and cotton - the stoles, shrugs, jackets, dresses and sarees are great picks for both party and everyday wear.

Winter is almost here, and here's your chance to score some authentic Kashmiri shawls. A women weaver's group Nayie Kiran has set up stall selling some of the most fabulous collection of hand embroidered Kashmiri shawls. From the intricately crafted gorgeous pashmina jama (it takes about a year to weave a single shawl!) to zari pashmina (pashmina woven with zari), and even shawls with contemporary motifs like camels, elephants and maple leaves - you'll be spoilt for choices here. Prices start at INR 2,000 here.

An artisan' fair promoting new and traditional art and craft forms, it's only fair that a stall must be there to introduce you to different art forms. Kids or for adults, Art Bunkar has interesting activity kits to introduce us to different traditional art forms like Madhubani, Warli, Gond, Patachitra and several others. There are doll making kits and even block printing kits available for grabs. We picked up a set of gorgeous Ganjifa card-coasters for just INR 150! 

We legit couldn't help ourselves spilling our pockets (and our hearts) out here! No, we didn't suffer from a fetish of papier mache, but Zulfiqar Ali Cat Shawls' products are rare standout pieces in themselves. Zulfiqar has super amazing things like Kashmiri samovars, kangri, Easter eggs and plenty more! Made mostly for exports, these rarely found designs and artefacts make for amazing collector's items. The fabulous looking Christmas decorations (Santa baubles to brilliantly decorated balls and stars) are the other things we couldn't help buying a good bunch of. They make for good stocking fillers and wonderful gift items!