My Experience in Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur
January-February 2023

Sponsored by Direct Create, in collaboration with RISD Global.
See projects: Cast Bug Jewelry, Minaret Box, Reversible Bag.

For one month, I traveled with a group of other young designers to different cities in India to be inspired by and create work with the local crafts. This experience taught me so much about material, tradition, history, technique, and collaboration. We spent the first half of the trip learning about history and culture and spent the second half working with master craftspersons and their workshops. I specialized in Bagru/Daboo printing and Jewelry/Metalworking.

After 20 hours of travel from Los Angeles, I landed in Delhi. The class began at full speed the next morning with tours of markets, mosques, and historical sites. Through such an abrupt change in landscape I learned to adapt to and understand my surroundings quicker than I expected.


Our path took us to Agra before heading to Jaipur. Along the route, we began to learn more about India, both from learning history and living our own experiences there. This period of time was great for brainstorming projects while being inspired by the world around us. I was particularly drawn to the pattern and structure of the historical sites we visited, and the connection to nature India was displaying.


This was also our introduction to the idea of collaboration and connection, as we switched between different guides and were constantly being introduced to new people who were there to work with us along the way.

Up until this point, we had experienced many things that we would ultimately draw upon to complete our projects. For me, the use of nature in combination with architecture and structure combined with a sense of pattern and material combination led me to choose a Jewelry and Bagru printing collaboration.

I also drew upon scraps of things and memories from my design journal, which I had begun since the first day of the trip.



My final products ranged from bagru printed fabric to a minaret jewelry box. Each reflected what I had been sensing in India, showing a process of learning and collaborating. The common theme of nature and the juxtaposition of ancient and modern worlds defined my creative process. I observed the concept of allowing nature to exist in all spaces, like monkeys climbing on top of buildings or ants crawling on drying fabric. Making by hand was not about keeping everything sheltered in a state of perfection, it was about embracing the environment and working that into the beauty of the craft.