Mora translates into “Mine”, and was started in 2009 as an extension of my passion to celebrate indigenous textiles. To encompass the rich diversity of mountains and hill regions, I have chosen one of a kind Saris, drapes and Shawls as my long and wide canvas. For this, I collaborate with spinners, weavers, and tailors in their homes to create designs that give rightful homage to their workmanship, and thus, eliminate the need to source commercially crafted textiles. The result is an eclectic mix of wearable textile art that celebrates the story of the makers, giving longevity to the craft.

Over these years, hundreds of weaving motifs and textures have been given tangible form using indigenous techniques, looms, fibres and natural dyes. There have been innovations, learnings and cross-community skill exchange in a pursuit to arrive at an appropriate creative solution, using collective shared knowledge accumulated during my grass-root interaction with remote communities. Now, Mora nurtures a community of indigenous artisans, translators, master- craftsmen, students and patrons, a cohesive unit that, working together co- dreams the continuation of ethnic lifestyle and knowledge.


Mora endeavours to empower the buyer with knowledge of making a right decision towards their relations with textile consumption. While the end is Artisan sustainability, the means to that end is Buyer’s sensitivity. Mora upholds this bridge of understanding through informative exchange on decade old Facebook’s community page.
Mora’s facebook page has grown into an organic community of more than 22000 people.

Mora envisions these artisans must be duly represented as Teachers.
Each mora is made as a prototype of design and truly one of a kind. Each weave is made one at a time with the weavers of the community whose homage it is represented as. They are made with Credit, Compensation, Collaboration and Consent of the artisan involved in the weaving of the weaves. You will observe not more than few pieces of each community in a collection. It is because the sentiment expressed is of ethnography through design. We are not a commercial design production house/ studio. The funds raised through the prototypes support the reverse pyramid model projects in North East India.

Ethnography through Design

Ethnography through design is a study of ethnic communities represented through the medium of design and in my case textile design. It is a representation and not just a creative presentation.
I use textile to represent those ethnic communities that are tucked in remote regions far away from the mainstream or mainland context where their name, craft, lifestyle has remained unspoken or hidden from the popular eye. To do so, I have chosen the large canvas of Saris and shawls to stitch together those textiles of indigenous communities that are ruled out to be used in the Sari form.

During this study of ethnography of different communities i realised that i have a personal preference of working with communities that are "farmers who are artisans" and "artisans who are teachers" of their craft. A farming community engages into artisanal work in their available time and are not empty stomach or dependent on this craft to be compelled to become "labour workers of craft".

Rather they become teachers of craft or master craftsmen of their craft collaborating with a designer/ artist to explore their own potential while teaching a designer the art of engaging with that craft respectfully. And because these farmers are artisans and these artisans are teachers, i wish to create a set up of "artisan at ease”.

Ethnography through design when mindfully executed holds potential to invite a good and secure lifestyle for artisans.

My study of ethnography through design is targeted towards finding that appropriate structure where an artisan environment can be benefitted not just by giving wages for craft labour, but by truly understanding what does a community need and create means to bring that to their environment, bring the "artisan to ease”.
Choosing Ethnography to create "very
little great impact"

Mora Collective 2025
designed by: MIDTOAN
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