The Beginning of Baaya
The magnificent weaver bird Baaya has long represented the artisanal hopes and
dreams in India. Perhaps, outside of the spotlight. Until Baaya began its artisanal
journey about ten years ago.
We began as most extraordinary journeys do, with a stroke of inspiration. Shibani
Jain, an early entrepreneur who graduated from NID Ahmedabad, was struck by a
professor’s ask. To revisit the handicrafts that gave India shape and form long
before the industrial practices did.
Shibani knew the design impact these pieces had, so rich in heritage and craft, as
well as its environmental impact - much milder than industrial practices. So she
set about studying their market impact, realizing that artisanal practices were
quickly fading from the fore and continue to become endangered.
Her entrepreneurial mind met her intrinsic designer’s heart and together, Baaya
was born in 2009. A place where we fused traditional crafts, contemporary
aesthetics, and modern functionality for an artful experience.
The Journey Evolves
What started in a small 300 square feet storefront has now expanded to two awe-
inspiring Experience Centres set in Mumbai’s Lower Parel and Andheri Districts
and our pieces continue to stir and rouse from Hyatt Dehradun to Bombay
House, and thousands of locations between the two.
But most significantly, we are stirred on by the homes in which Baaya’s custom
pieces belong. Today, as a bespoke decor studio we tell artful stories wherever we
go so that we may transform spaces, to be more meaningful for those who reside
in them.
