Inside Jaipur: The Artisans Behind India's Most Beautiful Crafts

About This Episode

Interior designer and lifelong traveler Casey Brand takes us through the vibrant streets of Jaipur, India, where centuries-old craftsmanship and contemporary design meet at every turn. Known as the Pink City, Jaipur was painted to welcome a visiting British royal in 1876, and by law it stays that color today. Casey starts at the Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds, a five-story facade of pink sandstone and lattice built so royal women could watch the life of the city without stepping into it.

The day begins in the home of a painter Casey met the night before in the gardens of the Jai Mahal Palace hotel. He paints Rajasthani scenes like Dhola and Maru in colors ground from stones, flowers, and leaves, writes on single grains of rice, and works with a brush of one squirrel hair. His wife dresses Casey in a Rajput outfit, a moment of hospitality she won’t soon forget. From there it’s a cup of lassi at a shop started in 1944 and now run by its fourth generation, a stop in the flower market, and a lesson in hand block printing from a craftsman who has been at it for 50 years, working beside his son.

Next come the Makrana marble carvers, turning slabs into lions and portrait busts, and then Channi Carpets & Textiles, where artisans tie Persian knots row by row for a rug that will take a year and a half or more. Casey ties a knot herself, watches the wool pass the burn test, and meets founder Channi Kochar, who started the business after serving in the Indian Army. Before leaving, she picks out a block print for a set of pajamas and a robe.

The second half belongs to jewelry designer Cecilia Ramos, a friend with just one free day in Jaipur. Together they wander the market reading color palettes off quilted motorcycle covers and stacks of bangles, then step inside Gems Paradise, where Cecilia’s pieces are made: silicone molds, pre-polishing, sorting tiny sapphires and diamonds, and setting each stone by hand. Cecilia, who trained as an architect, explains how she thinks in realms rather than collections, and Casey closes on the chance compliment about a pair of earrings that led them both here.

“Life rarely unfolds according to the plan. More often it's built with a conversation, relationships, and truly a serendipitous moment at a time.”

Casey Brand

What You’ll See

• A morning in a painter's home, watching him work in natural pigments with a single-hair squirrel brush
• Hand block printing a scarf alongside a printer with 50 years at the table
• Makrana marble carvers shaping statues by hand, down to the last filed detail
• The Persian knot, the burn test, and the 'carpet's barber' at Channi Carpets & Textiles
• Color hunting in the market with jewelry designer Cecilia Ramos
• Inside the Gems Paradise workshop, from 3D molds to stone sorting and setting