About the founder
Jhansi, the city where Pallavi grew up, sits in the heart of Bundelkhand and is steeped in history and a proud cultural past. Some of her earliest memories are of visiting craft melas with her parents, where stalls from every corner of India came together to display and sell beautiful handwork. Walking between woven textiles, embroidered pieces and handmade objects from so many regions, she felt an early fascination with the hands and places behind each creation.
After completing her schooling, she left her hometown to pursue her education and, later, her career. She earned a degree in engineering from HBTU Kanpur, followed by an MBA from IIM Kozhikode, and went on to spend seven years in the corporate sector, working in IT. Through these years her love for craft only grew. Exhibitions and festivals such as the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, which bring together artists and craftspeople from across the country, kept her connected to the world of the handmade and deepened her curiosity about the stories held within traditional textiles.
That calling led her to an intensive programme in fashion design at Istituto Marangoni, Mumbai. There, her interest in craft found its purpose. She came to understand fashion as a mirror of society, where what people wear reflects how they live, work and create. Craft became her material, and society became her subject. As part of the programme, her winter collection took her to Kutch, where she had her first in-depth encounter with the karigars behind India's handwoven and hand-printed textiles. Working alongside weavers and block printers, and witnessing the patience, skill and lives woven into every length of cloth, deepened her belief that these hands deserve to be seen, named and celebrated. Later, on a visit to Nainital, she began working with the women knitters of Kumaon, whose hand-knitted pieces carry the warmth of the hills and the strength of a close-knit community. These experiences showed her that India's crafts live not only in techniques but in people, their homes and their everyday lives.
Pallavi founded Pallavi & Karigars with the vision of building lasting relationships with India's craft communities. The label is launching in 2027, and it brings together her analytical mind and her creative heart: every piece is made with care, traced to its makers and carried forward as a living tradition.