"I'm new to this [interviews]," is Ajay Mayor's first admission after a polite hello, when we call him for a phone chat. His quiet modesty is refreshingly well placed, considering the 31-year-old is responsible in bringing Raag, a label founded by the grand dame of Indian textiles, Asha Sarabhai, in 1975, for the first time to India under the parent company, Beej.

Mayor, also Sarabhai's nephew, is intimately mindful about the deeper ancestry connections that Raag evokes. UK's Independent likened Sarabhai's thoughtful work to Japanese fabric innovator Issey Miyake's as "a bridge between Eastern and Western attitudes". In fact, the two shared mutual admiration. In 1984, Miyake offered Sarabhai a chance to launch her label under the Miyake Design Studio in Tokyo. It never came to India, which back then, was considered a tricky, mass-oriented market with little interest for handmade clothing.