Founded by Kartik Kumra in 2021, Kartik Research is an artisanal fashion brand based in New Delhi, India. The core tenet of Kartik Research is to reintroduce humanness into clothing. Each item of clothing has some handmade element to it. The shirting and quilts are produced on handlooms and dyed with plants and herbs and the embroideries are done by hand. As a result, each piece that is produced has its own unique nature, embracing its imperfect character.

Each season the brand visits a subculture from India’s heritage. Our debut collection explored the aesthetics of the ‘Beat Music’ scene that emerged from 1960s psychedelic rock’s fascination with India. Later collections have gone on to answer questions about the aesthetics of aspiration. Why do we aspire to own certain things? In a banana fibre weaving village we work with in Karnataka, jewelry and home ornamentation is made from crocheting banana fibre. Is this a function of just being resourceful or is the community’s value compass oriented towards their own heritage? This is a microcosm of the wider question Kartik Research aims to solve by putting forgotten Indian crafts back on the global.