Behind the Scenes: An Artisan Trip Through Delhi and Mumbai
There's a moment that happens every time I land in India - somewhere between the chaos of arrivals and the first cup of chai - where I remember exactly why I fell in love with this country, and why Naudic exists at all.
I've just returned from a trip that took me through Delhi and on to Mumbai, sitting down with the block print artisans and embroidery workshops who bring our prints and hand-stitched pieces to life. Some of these relationships go back years. Others are brand new - new hands, new workshops, new conversations over fabric swatches and cups of tea. And honestly? Both felt like exactly where I needed to be.
The Fabrics Never Stop Surprising Me
No matter how many times I sit in a workshop and watch a block print take shape, I'm still stopped in my tracks. There's something almost meditative about it — a carved wooden block, dipped in dye, pressed by hand onto cotton or silk, again and again, until a pattern I sketched months ago starts to breathe on fabric. No two prints are ever quite identical, and that's the whole point.
This trip, the colour was everywhere. I'm talking the full spectrum - deep marigold and rust, soft blush pinks, indigo so rich it looks almost black until the light hits it, sage greens, and blues that remind me of the Stockholm archipelago in the middle of summer. Every dye lot tells its own story, and I came home with swatches that I'm already dreaming into future collections.
Hands, Not Machines: Meeting Naudic's Embroiderers
If there's one thing I want you to know about the pieces you wear from Naudic, it's this: real people made them. In Delhi, I sat with embroiderers doing hand-stitch work so fine and so patient it made my own to-do list feel embarrassingly small in comparison. Every knot, every thread pulled through by hand - it's a craft passed down, often within families, over generations. You can view Naudic's Embroidery Collection here.
This is why a Naudic piece never feels quite like anything off a fast-fashion rack. It carries the fingerprints of the people who made it, quite literally.
Old Friends, New Faces: Building Artisan Relationships in India
Part of what made this trip special was the mix of relationships I got to nurture. Sitting across the table from suppliers I've worked with for years, there's an ease and trust that's been built order by order, season by season. And then there's the thrill of a new partnership just beginning — new workshops, new techniques, new ideas about what's possible with a block or a needle.
Building Naudic has always meant building relationships first and collections second. The artisans I work with aren't just suppliers to me - they're collaborators, and honestly, some of my favourite people to sit and talk fabric with anywhere in the world.
Bringing the Craft Home to Naudic
I'll admit, trips like this always leave me a little bit changed. There's something about being back in the workshops, hands in the fabric, watching a print come together thread by thread, that reconnects me to why I started this brand in the first place.
The pieces born from this trip are already on their way to becoming part of upcoming Naudic collections, and I can't wait for you to see - and feel - them for yourselves. Until then, thank you for being part of a brand that believes fashion can still be made slowly, by hand, and with heart.
With love from the road,
Emma
Founder, Naudic
Craft Notes
Some of the techniques behind this trip's finds: hand block printing using hand-carved wooden blocks and natural dye pigments, and traditional Indian hand embroidery styles including fine chain-stitch work passed down through generations of artisan families in Delhi.
