The Little Block-Printing Workshop that Could
"A rising tide doesn’t raise people who don’t have a boat. We have to build the boat for them. We have to give them the basic infrastructure to rise with the tide.” – Rahul Gandhi
Dear Friends,
This month, we’re featuring stories that highlight the many challenges—and rewards—of building and running an artisan-based business. While there are myriad paths one could take to success, they all require a certain amount of “luck and pluck” to weather the inevitable storms, both figurative and literal.
A perfect example of this kind of perseverance is Padmini Govind, who turned her mother’s small, home-based block-printing business into a famous (and famously sustainable) exporter of high-end fashion and home textiles. Govind grew the enterprise to include 26 employees, and forged partnerships with brands such as Anthropologie, Pollack, and Passion Lily. Some of the challenges she’s navigated include, as this story details, a record-breaking flood that left her entire studio in Bengaluru, India, under water.
We hope you’ll enjoy reading, “The Little Block-Printing Workshop that Could,” written by Alden Wicker.
Thank you for reading and sharing our stories, for supporting our work with a paid subscription if you can, and for being part of the Craftsmanship community. We couldn’t do this without you.
Sincerely,
The Craftsmanship Team
Coming soon…
This Friday on “The Secrets of Mastery,” we’ll be releasing a new audio interview with Ann Morhauser of Annieglass fame. She’ll talk about some of the challenges of producing authentic, handcrafted wares at scale, and share her thoughts on keeping an artisan-based business afloat and thriving—in her case, for more than 40 years(!).
If you haven’t done so already, you can upgrade your subscription now for just $6/month, or $60/year, and get access to all of our premium content, including the entire Secrets of Mastery series.
Craftsmanship Magazine is a not-for-profit, multimedia publication that focuses on master artisans and innovators whose work informs our quest: to create a world built to last.
In addition to our Substack offerings, you’ll find a rich archive of in-depth reported features, audio stories, photo essays, Field Notes, and documentary shorts on our free website—along with community resources like our Artisans’ Directory, our guide to U.S.-based craft & folk schools, and much more.