Topnotch

Abu Jani, Sandeep Khosla and the idea of India: How the designer duo came to embody the nation itself

Like Saleem and Shiva, the hero and anti-hero of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Abu and Sandeep are both players in and witness to India’s shifting sands.

A confluence of craft: Sujata Keshavan’s Varana wants to dress the world in handmade Indian textiles

Varana launched in London’s swishy Mayfair neighbourhood in 2017. It was started by Sujata Keshavan, who previously ran India’s leading graphic design firm Ray + Keshavan.

How Rahul Mishra applied his doctrines of mindful luxury to the fully sustainable home he's building in Uttarakhand

What really makes Mishra stand out is his Gandhian philosophy: India belongs in its villages. His high-fashion brand is built on the belief system of supporting villages and their ways of living.

Refashioning the sari, repurposing lives: How Stefano Funari brought together gender empowerment and success

A profitable enterprise that employs underprivileged women from Mumbai’s slums, to make contemporary fashion from recycled saris, has Gucci supporting it too.

Fighting patriarchy, one beautiful bauble at a time: Eina Ahluwalia turns the idea of jewellery as feminine on its head

Ahluwalia's seemingly simple trinkets hold much pain, shed fear, take struggles on head-first, and celebrate womanhood that would make the fiercest feminists proud.

'Our individual traumas are our collective traumas as well': Supermodel Nidhi Sunil on her activism and journey

Nidhi Sunil slipped from the cracks of a social structure that would have stifled her to become a global beauty ambassador and a voice against femicide.

Work is Home: How Anita Lal's soft-skills-as-top-skills approach shaped leading homegrown luxury label Good Earth

In its 25th year now, Good Earth has achieved cult status. It’s one of the country’s finest examples in homegrown luxury, making décor, dining and fashion products, soaked in India’s endless historical heritage and bountiful handmade styles.