A dormant dream of an engineer turned artist, ‘Tara Karigari’ has been a Leap of Faith for the entire team. Founded by Shailja Shukla in the summers of 2019 in Lucknow, Tara’s is now a  family of 15 artisans working in various parts of the country.

Hailing from Dehradun and married to an army officer, Shailja, left a well-paying government job of 6 years in the Indian Defense sector to pursue her childhood passion of classical music and dance. A research scholar and performing artist in Kathak along with B.Tech, year 2018 was a turning point in her life when she shifted base to the City of Nawabs, Lucknow, her husband’s hometown, due to his field posting. 

In her own words, “The exhilarating experience of living in the heart of a culturally rich city made me realize that Lucknow is not just about Kathak and Sarangis but it has a rich craft heritage too.  As a newly wed to a Lucknowite, I had frequent trips to those famous markets of ‘Aminabad’ and ‘Chowk’ to pick up few Chikankari pieces. The markets were flooded with cloned embroidered clothings and faux fabrics at cheap rates. And even after 6 years of marriage, I couldn’t find one single exquisite  piece of Chikankari to treasure in my wardrobe. And those big showrooms which housed these pieces quoted exorbitant prices.