Inside MeMeraki: Reimagining Indian Craft for a Global Audience

MeMeraki brings together heritage, technology, and commerce to create sustained income opportunities for traditional Indian artists. We work with over 500 master artisans across more than 300 art forms, enabling them to teach, sell their work globally, and collaborate on installations across public and enterprise spaces. Over time, this has evolved into a wider ecosystem where craft is documented, experienced, and commissioned across formats.

Today, we serve customers in over 40 countries and have disbursed more than ₹10 crore directly to artisans over the last 6 years. The business has also seen validation through investor backing and a multi-shark deal on Shark Tank India, which has helped bring wider visibility to this space. What has become clear through this journey is that the gap was continuity. Skill and demand both existed, but they were not connected consistently. Our role is to build that connection so artists can participate more steadily in the modern economy while retaining ownership of their work.

2. You engage buyers, learners, and cultural enthusiasts. How important is community and changing consumer behaviour in ensuring crafts remain relevant?

Community and consumer behaviour are closely linked in how craft sustains itself. In the early days, when we started workshops, I hosted over 200 workshops daily personally along with our master artists. What stood out was how differently people engaged once they interacted directly with artists and with each other as a community. The questions became more thoughtful, and the relationship extended beyond a transactional realm.

We are also seeing a broader shift in consumption. In India and globally, people are moving toward choices that feel more personal and intentional. When audiences understand the process and context behind an artwork, they begin to value it differently. That combination of participation and awareness creates a more stable foundation for craft, where engagement is deeper and more long term.

3. India has hundreds of traditional art forms, many of which remain underrepresented. How can platforms like MeMeraki influence how cultural heritage is valued in the modern economy?

A large part of the challenge has been access and how craft is presented. Traditionally, it has been limited to physical markets or curated spaces, both of which restrict reach. Technology allows that to change by enabling artists to engage directly with wider audiences.

An artist can now teach, showcase their work with context, and participate in a structured marketplace without relying entirely on intermediaries. This creates a more consistent pathway for economic participation. At MeMeraki, we combine this access with documentation and storytelling, so that discovery is supported by understanding. When both come together, value begins to shift more naturally, and heritage starts to find a more stable place within the modern economy.

4. You work with more than 500 master artisans across diverse regions. How do you identify and build long-term partnerships with them?

The process usually begins with deep research and introductions within craft communities, often through existing artists and cultural networks. We are very intentional about who we work with, typically master artisans with strong lineage, a distinct visual language, and the ability to engage in collaborative work.

When we begin working with an artist, we spend time understanding their practice closely. This includes observing their process, how they narrate their work, and what holds cultural significance within their tradition. Documentation is done with care, with the artist guiding how their work is represented.

A key part of our approach is co-creation. We don’t just showcase existing works, we work with artisans to adapt their craft into new formats such as large-scale installations, murals, and contemporary commissions, often for spaces like airports, corporate environments, and international exhibitions. Over time, relationships are built through consistency and trust. Timely payments, clear attribution, and repeat project opportunities are critical. We also invest in building sustained demand for their work by connecting them to new audiences and markets.

What sustains these partnerships is when artisans experience not just income stability, but also meaningful visibility and recognition for their expertise, while continuing to evolve their practice in new contexts.

5. Technology is central to your model. How has it expanded access, and where do you see the role of AI in this space?

Technology has been fundamental to how we’ve expanded access, both for artisans and for audiences. It began with enabling live, interactive workshops, where an artist in a small town or village could teach someone anywhere in the world. That not only created new income streams but also shifted how traditional art could be experienced, moving from passive consumption to direct engagement.

As the platform evolved, technology has helped us scale this access. Through our digital marketplace and tools like AR visualisation, audiences can now discover, understand, and place artworks in their own spaces more intuitively. This has been especially important for making traditional art more accessible to contemporary buyers.

On the backend, we’re increasingly using data and AI-led tools to improve discovery and curation. With over 300 craft forms, the challenge is not just availability but relevance; helping the right artwork reach the right audience. AI helps us understand engagement patterns, personalise recommendations, and present works in a way that stays true to the artist’s practice while making it more discoverable.

Looking ahead, I see AI playing a much larger role in areas like driving efficiency in our backend and operational processes. At the same time, we’re very conscious that technology should amplify, not replace, the artist. The goal is to use tech to expand access, create new markets, and build sustainable demand, while keeping the integrity of the craft at the centre.

6. MeMeraki has worked on installations and enterprise collaborations. How do these projects create new opportunities for artisans?

Enterprise collaborations have gradually become an important extension of how artists engage with their work. When we started exploring installations, the intent was to see how traditional art could exist in contemporary public spaces without losing its integrity. Projects at places like GMR Hyderabad Airport, Science City Kolkata & DLF Promenade allowed artists to work at a completely different scale and format than they were used to.

These engagements tend to run over longer durations and offer more predictable income compared to individual sales. At the same time, they also change visibility. When an artist’s work is experienced in a public or institutional setting, it reaches a much wider audience and builds a different kind of credibility. They also transform perception and visibility, when traditional art is experienced in public or institutional settings, it feels more relevant and accessible, often inspiring people to bring it into their own spaces. Over time, this builds credibility and opens new pathways, both in collaborations and in how artists reimagine the scope of their practice. For instance, we first worked with the craft of Tholu Bommalata at a large scale at GMR Hyderabad Airport. That led to an opportunity to take the craft to Singapore in its original shadow puppetry form, with a pre-recorded Ramayana narrative for Deepawali, and later to DLF Promenade, where it was reimagined into large-scale lamp installations inspired by Diwali stories.

7. Handmade products come with variability. What does it take to build a reliable system around handcrafted art?

Building reliability in craft requires working with its nature rather than forcing standardisation. Production is shaped by seasonality, material availability, and community rhythms, so planning begins with a clear understanding of these realities. We work closely with artisans to map capacity and timelines before committing to delivery expectations.

Equally important is how the process is structured. Pricing is defined upfront to avoid pressure on timelines, and quality is shaped through continuous dialogue rather than rigid benchmarks. Working with traditional artisans also means designing systems around their realities, rather than expecting them to adopt new tools, we operate through 1000+ WhatsApp groups, a platform they are already comfortable with. Over time, reliability comes from familiarity, ongoing collaboration builds a shared understanding of expectations, creating consistency without compromising the individuality of the work.

8. Looking ahead, what opportunities do you see for culture-tech platforms in India’s craft economy?

The possibilities are endless! There is a growing global shift toward more meaningful cultural engagement. We’re seeing both institutions integrate heritage into contemporary spaces, and individuals connect more deeply through digital learning and collecting. Platforms like Shark Tank have accelerated visibility and investor interest, bringing craft into mainstream conversations in a way we haven’t seen before.

The real opportunity is to shape this moment with intent. Culture-tech platforms can redefine how craft is valued, not as something nostalgic, but as a living, evolving part of modern life and global design and as a deeply rooted part of our national identity. If we keep income stability, recognition, and long-term opportunity for artisans at the centre, this ecosystem has the potential to scale not just commercially, but culturally, placing Indian craft where it truly belongs: on the global stage.

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