TOURS – December 27 to January 10, 2026

Get to know who made your textiles – and how.

Little Luxuries:

Traditional Artisans in the World of

Contemporary Design

We travel to learn. We can enjoy skimming the surface of exotica, or we can go slower, meet individuals, experience and understand a bit of their worlds. Our aim is to introduce you to who made the textiles you find, why and how.

To experience is to gather cherished memories, to connect, to love. In experiencing other worlds, we understand our own – and increase value for both.

A unique aspect of India is the persistence of distinct rural cultures, expressed in craft traditions.

These expressions emanate from a shared understanding of the world, a shared identity, and an environment in which art is integrated into daily life.

Judy Frater will take you down paths less traveled to meet artisans whom she intimately knows and experience their shared heritage and the subtle variations nurtured through design education.

Artisan designers have styles as unique as fingerprints, while clearly maintaining their cultural heritage.

You will experience living traditions, learn in workshops, and connect to the precious human quality of handmade art.

LITTLE LUXURIES:

Traditional Artisans in the World of Contemporary Design:

Kutch and Ahmedabad

Dates for tour 27 December 2025- 10 January 2026

Extension 10-19 January 2026

Explore rich hand-crafted textiles of Gujarat from the eyes of the artisans who create them. Judy Frater, who lived in Kutch for 3 decades, established the first design school for artisans, and published Artisans by Design this fall, offers unique intimate exchanges with artisans featured in her book. Tour members will meet weavers, block print, batik, bandhani and embroidery artisan design graduates, hear their amazing and heartwarming stories, delight in their fabulous innovations, and learn their craft traditions in 4 hands-on workshops. Their experiences will encourage them to contemplate textile traditions in the fast-evolving contemporary world, and to ponder concepts of sustainability.
Please contact judyf@textileslive.com to register your interest!