Earth, Fire, Cloth: Rajka’s Evolving Craft Story
As many travellers on the Selvedge Textile Tour of India will remember, Rajka has long been a highlight of the journey — a studio where heritage craft, contemporary design and a deep commitment to artisanship meet. When the Selvedge Textile Tour of India returns in 2026, visitors on the trip will find Rajka evolving in exciting and meaningful ways.
Natural, hand sculpted terracotta clay figures in progress at Rajka.
Co-directors Ritu and Samvit Sarabhai have each taken on new creative directions within the studio. Ritu continues to expand Rajka’s work in handmade home furnishings and textile artworks, drawing on traditional techniques to create pieces that feel both rooted and refreshingly contemporary. These new textiles, shaped by a thoughtful eye and long experience, represent an intimate extension of Rajka’s heritage in cloth.
The Rajka kiln located on the family farm.
Alongside the textile division, Samvit has been developing a renewed focus on terracotta — a material that runs deep in India’s cultural and craft history. Rajka has recently established a dedicated terracotta workshop at their family farm, complete with a new kiln, where an increasing number of commissions for handmade pots and sculptural figures are taking shape. When the Selvedge tour visits next year, guests will be able to experience both arms of Rajka’s practice in one place: textiles and pottery in dialogue with the land that sustains them.
Carving details into a towering terracotta horse at the Sarabhai farm.
Terracotta has always been central to the Rajka story. The pottery division was founded in the early 1980s by designer Rajshree Sarabhai as an extension of Rajka Designs, which specialised in handmade home furnishings and garments rooted in Indian textile traditions. Her aim was to revive and sustain India’s terracotta heritage — one of its oldest, most expressive craft forms. Among these, the Ayyanar terracotta tradition of Tamil Nadu, with its towering horses, elephants and guardian figures, became a particular source of inspiration.
In its early years, Rajka Pottery collaborated closely with master potters from these lineages, creating both traditional guardian figures and contemporary forms suited to a global audience, ensuring that artisans could continue their work with dignity and continuity.
Natural clay is sourced from nearby lakes and riverbeds.
Today, under Samvit’s direction, Rajka Pottery continues to explore India’s diverse terracotta practices, reinterpreting them for modern contexts. A recent collection draws from the Indus Valley and Harappan civilizations, reimagining the iconic Zebu bull as large, hand-built sculptures crafted using the ancient coiling method and natural clays sourced from nearby lakes and riverbeds. Fired at around 800°C, each piece is durable, breathable and alive — ageing gracefully as it develops a rich seasonal patina.
Finished terracotta pots on display at Rajka.
As Rajka looks to the future, terracotta remains at the heart of their philosophy: sustainable, elemental and deeply connected to place. And in our upcoming tour, visitors will witness this dialogue between past and present unfold in real time.
We hear more from Samvit in our “5 Minutes with a Friend” interview series.
Samvit Sarabhai
Samvit and Rajshree Sarabhai
Samvit, what is your first memory of a textile/pottery?
My first memory of a textile is wearing very fine mul cotton as a child — so light and soft that you almost didn’t feel it. It was always white, and I remember wearing it to sleep every night growing up in India. My mother used mul to make simple comfortable kurtas to wear with simple prints on them. It was something everyone in the family did. The fabric was so breathable and cool — especially in the warm weather — that it just became part of daily life. Even now, that feeling of mul cotton brings back a sense of comfort and simplicity.
When I was around six years old, both the textile and terracotta workshops were at home. My mother ran them side by side, so I grew up surrounded by fabrics and clay. As a child, I naturally gravitated toward the clay — there was always plenty of it around, and watching the potters shape those beautiful forms was endlessly fascinating. I still remember the smell of fresh clay and its cool, earthy texture. The artisans made magnificent 7 to 10-foot Ayyanar horses and elephants, and seeing them come to life was truly awe-inspiring. The house was — and still is — filled with textiles and terracotta figures.
Can you put into words what you love about textiles/pottery?
What I love about textiles and terracotta is that both are deeply rooted in our traditional crafts and so closely connected with nature. In both, we’re very aware of where the material comes from — in textiles it begins with the cotton plant or the sheep, and in terracotta it’s the soil we dig from the ground. That connection to nature, and the way skilled artisans transform these raw materials entirely by hand, makes the process incredibly meaningful. The final product is only part of the story — it’s the whole journey, from nature to making, that I find most beautiful and rewarding. And I love sharing these stories and images with our customers, so they can also experience the craft, the people, and the process behind every piece.
Where is your most inspiring space / place to create?
For me, the most inspiring place to create is always with the masters — the artisans themselves. Whether it’s textiles or pottery, being alongside them is where ideas truly come alive. My inspiration comes from going deep into our crafts and history, exploring that incredible reservoir of tradition, and then reimagining it in new ways. The designs often emerge through conversations with the makers — understanding what’s possible, what excites them — and together we create something that stays true to our craft heritage while still feeling fresh and relevant.
What has inspired you recently?
Recently, I came across two wonderful books. One is In Search of Wild Silk by Karen Selk, which opened my eyes to the incredible world of India’s wild silks — their textures, colours, and the living silk worms that create them. The other is Soil: The Incredible Story of What Keeps the Earth, and Us, Healthy. A single handful of soil is filled with billions of microorganisms that give our food its taste and nutrition — it’s a fascinating world. Both books feel deeply connected to what we do — working with fabric and soil to create textiles and pottery. They reminded me how everything we use comes from the earth, and how conscious we need to be when we take from it. The idea that both soil and fibre are living systems, full of life and delicate balance, made me even more grateful for these raw materials — and more aware of how precious they are.
What is your most cherished textile/pottery piece, and why?
Over the years, since the early 1980s, my mother has carefully collected textiles from across India — old and new. That collection is what I cherish the most. Each piece carries a story, a region, and a moment in time. My plan is to eventually showcase these textiles to a wider audience. Our terracotta workshop has large open spaces and many empty walls, and I imagine displaying the textiles there — alongside the potters at work. It would create a beautiful experience, where visitors can walk through and see textiles and terracotta together — two crafts that have always lived side by side in our family.
Where did you learn your craft?
My craft has been less about making with my own hands and more about managing the ecosystem around the craft — the makers, their skills, and how best we can connect these traditions to a wider audience around the world. Our goal has always been to provide continuity of work to the artisans/designers who keep these beautiful traditions of textiles and pottery alive. It hasn’t always been easy, but I’ve been fortunate to learn from some of the very best — starting with my mother, Rajshree Sarabhai, who built the company from the ground up, and working with textile scholars and designers like Yoshiko Wada, Christina Kim, Isla Van Damme, and Susan Benn. And, of course, I’ve learned immensely from the craftspeople and designers themselves — from their deep understanding of material, community, and their incredible sense of beauty.
Thank you, Samvit. We look forward to seeing you on the 2026 Selvedge Textile Tour of India.
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Further Information:
Visit Rajka during the first half of the Selvedge 2026 Textile Tour of India. Please register your interest with Lison at artisans@selvedge.org.
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Image Credits:
All Images courtesy of Samvit Sarabhai.