Textile Designer Arati Rao Is Helping Preserve Craft Culture’s Human Touch

When I left corporate fashion in 2010, I made a trip to South India to see if there was a way to work directly with weavers where my ancestors are from, in Telangana. Their craft heritage has become devalued because people want things faster and cheaper, but the community there has done an amazing job establishing a weaving center, Pochampally Handloom Park, which operates like a co-op and is supported in part by government funding. After that first visit, we started working together on creating throws and other textiles from my designs, which was how I started my rug and soft-goods company, Tantuvi.