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Kaaru

Made by hand in India, to be lived with

Kaaru means artisan in Sanskrit. We are a small studio in Bengaluru that designs home decor, lighting, furniture and textiles with around 40 artisan studios across 11 Indian states, and sells them directly to you.

Every piece is thrown, woven, knotted, cast or carved by hand, in small batches, by people we know by name.

Textured moon jar held in two hands

India has some of the most skilled makers in the world. Most of us still furnish our homes from factories.

Three hand-built clay vessels on a limewashed plinth

Potters in Khurja fire kilns full of hotel crockery. Bhadohi's weavers knot rugs for homes all over the world, often without their names ever reaching the buyer.

The skill is here. What is often missing is a steady, direct route to people who want to buy it. Kaaru is that route: we design with makers, order in small batches, and sell to you without distributors or showrooms in between.

You pay for the work, not the warehouse, and the studio is paid properly for it.

“Clay remembers every touch. I want people to feel that when they pick it up.”
Rukhsana Bibi, potter, Kutch
Woven baskets stacked on a wooden bench

How a piece comes to be

Fair work is not a label we add at the end. It is built into how every piece is designed, priced, made and sold.

  1. We design together

    Every piece starts in a workshop, not on a mood board. We bring a need, such as a lamp that fits a narrow bedside table, and the maker shows us what their material and technique do best.

  2. We agree the price first

    Studios set the price for their work before a batch begins, and we pay part of it upfront so no maker has to fund our stock. We do not bargain it down afterwards.

  3. We make in small batches

    We order what we expect to sell in a season, then remake. Some pieces sell out, but nothing waits in a warehouse for years, and studios get steady work instead of one large order followed by silence.

  4. We name the place

    Every product page says where and how the piece was made. Handmade variation is part of the object, and we would rather explain it than hide it.

Materials and places

Each region has a material it knows better than anywhere else. We go to the place, rather than asking a factory to imitate it.

Kaaru, in brief

Our studio
Bengaluru, on 14 Lavelle Road
Who makes our pieces
Around 40 artisan studios in 11 states
How we make
In small batches, remade each season
How makers are paid
Price agreed first, part paid upfront
How we pack
Plastic-free parcels, across India
If it is not right
15-day returns with free pickup

Lighter on the planet

Handmade is a good start, but it is not the whole answer. Here is what we already do, and what we have not solved yet.

What we do now

  • Plastic-free parcels: corrugated boxes, paper tape, moulded pulp and honeycomb paper, with no bubble wrap or foam.
  • Natural materials first: clay, cane, jute, wool, cotton and solid wood from responsibly managed sources.
  • Water-based, low-VOC finishes on all our furniture.
  • Small batches, so we do not overproduce or send unsold stock to landfill.
  • A care guide for every material, and advice from the studio that made your piece if something needs fixing.

What we are working on

  • Some furniture still gets a layer of stretch film in the monsoon to keep moisture out. We are testing paper-based wraps to replace it.
  • Grouping shipments from the same region, so fewer half-empty trucks travel between the studios and our warehouse.
  • A take-back scheme for rugs and furniture you no longer need, so they can be repaired and rehomed rather than thrown away.
Home office with a timber desk beside a window

Work at Kaaru

We are a small team at our Bengaluru studio: designers, sourcing leads who spend half their time on the road with makers, a customer care team, photographers and a few engineers. We hire rarely and carefully.

If you care about craft and think you could help, write to us with a few lines about yourself and something you have made or done that you are proud of. A CV is welcome but optional.

Email [email protected]

Run a craft studio and want to make with us? Send us a message and choose working with us as a maker.

See what the studios are making this season

New pieces arrive in small batches through the year. When they are gone, the next batch is already on the wheel.

Shop all piecesMade by Hand