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Karavi is a New Zealand studio, born in a corner of a hand-block printer's atelier in northern India.
We were three people, then four. We had a loom on lease, a small dye yard, and a list of artisans we wanted to work with, properly, slowly, with their names on the label. Five years on, that list has grown to forty-two.
Every piece in the studio is dyed, woven, knotted or tufted by an artisan we have sat down with. We work in small batches because that is what the looms can hold. We work on natural fibres because they breathe. And we sign every piece, in the maker's hand, because every piece passes through one.
The making happens in northern India: a dye yard, pit looms, a block-printer's table. The walls smell of indigo and dust. Some mornings there is a goat in the lane. This is the texture of the place that makes Karavi, and it is not incidental.
Khadi cotton hand-spun in Kutch. New Zealand wool tufted in Bhadohi. European flax stonewashed in small lots. We use no synthetics. Ever. Every fibre is chosen for how it will age, not only how it looks on a product page.
Forty-two artisans across five regions. We pay per-piece, not per-day, and we share the run sheet so the maker knows what their work has become. Their names are on the label; their voices are in the journal.
Pit looms, hand-knot frames, kalamkari pens. Old tools, slow tools. We do not promise overnight delivery; we promise something worth the wait. Every Karavi piece takes longer to make than to ship.
Based in New Zealand, made in India, built on forty-two artisan partnerships.
We visit our makers regularly across India. If you would like to learn more about the people behind each piece, write to us.
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