Nov 08 2025 to Nov 08 2025 6 p.m.

Price: 100 Book/Buy

Where

Courtyard Koota

Ground floor, Good Earth Tarana Good Earth Malhar, near Rajarajeswari medical college Kambipura, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560074

Event Description

A conversation with founder Karthik Vaidyanathan

Varnam Craft Collective is a multi-award winning social enterprise that has been working with artisans in Channapatna since 2012. The result is a series of designs interpreting this 200 year old toy-making craft in the home & lifestyle space that includes lighting, Kitchen, dining & bar accessories , kids room décor/toys and Jewelry. In an industry where more than 90% of the artisans are men, many of Varnam’s creations have been deftly hand-crafted by women artisans. We have been providing sustainable livelihoods on a consistent basis to artisan groups in Channapatna and also other craft clusters within India. 

We meet with Karthik Vaidyanathan, the founder of Varnam, for a conversation about his journey, his thoughts on the future of craft and the challenges we need to gear up for to translate our vision of a world where craft plays a role.

About Karthik Vaidyanathan

Karthik Vaidyanathan, hails from the Chettinad region of South India. Born and brought up in Mumbai he currently resides in Bangalore. An Engineer-MBA by qualification, Karthik has no formal training in design. He started his career with producing classical and spiritual music albums for Sony Music in Mumbai. He then moved to Bangalore to work in the brand team of Tanishq, then headed Radio City 91FM before setting up and running several radio stations for Worldspace satellite Radio. He has a collective work experience of over 20 years. Along with running Varnam Craft Collective, he continues to moonlight in the corporate world where he heads internal communication design for the 3rd largest internet services provider in India, ACT Fibrenet.

Varnam Craft Collective was born in late 2011 during a trip to Mysore enroute Channapatna. The colourful toys of Channapatna left him fascinated and created an urge to know more about the craft. Being in a full-time job, he would travel to Channapatna over weekends and holidays. A few visits later, the first few designs of Varnam saw the light of day. Varnam has, thankfully, not looked back since.

*Tickets are mandatory for all.