Reliance Foundation chairperson Nita Ambani hosted a special evening at the Swadesh flagship store in Mumbai’s Eros precinct to celebrate India’s master artisans and living craft traditions. The store’s Master’s Pavilion showcased a curated selection of work by distinguished makers — miniature-art specialist Shammi Bannu Sharma, Odisha Ikat expert Gunjan Jain, and weaving masters V. Panneerselvam, GhanShyam Sarode and Padma Shri recipient Biren Basak. Each piece reflected techniques handed down through generations and preserved in village communities across the country.
Ambani personally toured the displays, spoke with the artisans and publicly acknowledged their skill and legacy. The event aimed to raise the profile of traditional craftsmanship by providing makers a prominent, high-visibility platform and by demonstrating how heritage techniques can find contemporary relevance.
Her outfit mirrored the evening’s theme: a peacock-blue Banarasi saree from Swadesh woven in the traditional Kadhua technique and adorned with Meena motifs, styled with a Manish Malhotra blouse featuring a polki border, hand-painted deity buttons and a vintage spinel tassel. Her jewelry — antique kundan-polki earrings, a handcrafted jadau bird ring from Swadesh and a haath phool passed down from her mother — reinforced the tribute to both cultural heritage and personal lineage.
Organizers emphasized several goals behind the celebration: reviving living crafts threatened by industrialization, honoring individual artisans, supporting sustainable livelihoods for craft communities, and showing how age-old techniques can be adapted with modern sensibilities to remain vibrant and commercially viable today.
