Akansha Dixit co-founded Craft Maestros (CM) - a one-stop destination for curated Indian handicrafts and handlooms made by master artisans. The company goes to great lengths to source unique pieces from artists so that the products not easily available anywhere else. All of its products are sourced from the houses of artisans who are national award winners - the PadmaShri's, the Shilp Guru’s, the Sant Kabir’s.

Under Akansha’s leadership, the company caters to all individuals who have a love for Indian handicrafts; therefore some pieces are very affordable and are on the high-end of the spectrum.

Craft Maestros is a tech-driven brand that integrates the experience for the artisan and end-user. The artist has direct access to all the orders placed with a transparent supply chain model. Focused on design and quality, it brings all the major handicraft and handloom forms under one roof. It is also creating systems and networks that help promote and sustain handicrafts.

To know more about the company and her journey, kindly peruse the excerpts from the conversation between Akansha Dixit and Women Entrepreneur India.

Take Us Through Your Early Education And Industry Experience.

I am a Postgrad and an awardee from NIFT Delhi, in Knitwear design and technology. In terms of professional journey, I worked for 15 years with one of the largest apparel-sourcing agencies in India- in the b2b space where I led teams that spanned sourcing, merchandising, quality and design. I managed business accounts of customers from the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, and South America.

I have always found inspiration in diversity, and my deep-rooted love for high-quality Indian handicrafts and handlooms is what lead to the formation of Craft Maestros. I have traveled the world on sourcing assignments and taken India’s manufacturing skill set to the world. Now I bring that skill-set, experience, and wisdom to India’s handicrafts sector where our goal is to build a platform that allows master artisans to find their rightful place in the global marketplace – craving authentic handmade products.

Tell Us About The Foundation Story Of Craft Maestros?

The story of Craft Maestros has several starting points. My co-founder Ajay had long held the desire to work with the multitude of artisans in this country and help them raise the quality of their art form so that Indian art took its rightful place as the gold standard among global handicrafts. Ajay and another friend of mine worked on the initial template, but that idea never saw the light of day.

Several years later, it was on a common holiday that Ajay and I got talking about our love for Indian handicraft and the idea of Craft Maestros was born. The brand exists to bring some of India’s finest handicrafts to patrons from across India – and eventually the world. We curate decorative, functional, and eclectic pieces from India’s greatest artisans – all of the National Award winners – Shilp Gurus, Sant Kabir’s, and Padma Shri's The best in their field.

We want to give people peace of mind that the handicraft they purchase is authentic and of the finest quality. In the early days, besides landing upon the kind of target group we wanted to cater to, decide upon the user experience that we wanted our customers to have, our greatest challenge was in selecting those who would be represented by the brand. We were looking for people who had the drive and hunger to grow with the brand.

“Craft maestros curates eclectic, functional, and decorative pieces - under the home, jewellery, accessories and apparel, and wall décor categories”

From the artisan's side they were wary of associating with new players in the industry, But what helped bring them around and have confidence in us was the absolute transparency with which we have evolved this relationship - from having a simple and fair contract or using technology to provide visibility into the entire order process.

One of the things that we both were clear about right from the start was that we wanted to ensure that artists get a fair price for their products and we don’t squeeze them to extract the last rupee. We wanted to restore the dignity that comes with the work these masters were put in to create their crafts and we wanted to be very transparent about payment terms, payment cycles, etc. I believe that this was one of the biggest reasons why we were able to convince so many masters to come on board.

Throw Some Light On The Concept Of Craft Maestros. What Are The Various Arts And Craft Forms That The Platform Brings To End Consumers?

Craft maestros leverage technology to provide a platform to India’s master artisans and help them find their rightful place in the global marketplace. So far, we have signed with 50 master artisans across 30 art forms. The goal is to have around 200-225 master artisans by 2022 across various craft forms. We have launched 27 art and craft forms on our platform- to name a few: Paper Mache, Dorukha embroidery, blue pottery, terracotta, jaali work on wood, Tarakashi, brass engraving, Shibori, Dhabla weave, meenakari, Thewa, etc.

How Has Craft Maestros’ Growth Journey Been So Far?

We began CM with the assumption that there is a latent demand for good quality Indian handicrafts, priced fairly. In the 2.5 years since we have been in business, my experience is that this assumption has proven true. But our growth has also coincided with the emergence of the pandemic, nationwide lockdowns, and the devastating 2nd wave that is raving the country as we speak. This has impacted the growth trajectory, but we have been able to utilize this time to streamline processes, evolve our business strategy and form new partnerships.

Akansha Dixit, Co-Founder, Craft Maestros

Roadmap:

• We want to take Indian handicraft global by 2022 and also bring global art forms to the country by 2024.

• By 2023, we also plan to increase the number of in-house designs that are available to our customers. In many ways, this will redefine our brand identity and I am excited to see what emerges on the other end.

• Last year, we finalized the details for opening several centers of excellence (COE) and by 2023; we plan to open 4-5 COEs catering to various handicrafts. The COEs are our labor of love and a way for us to give back to the artisan community. The centers will be built around our master artisans and will help train a new generation of crafts-persons, and also help document the craft.