Million of tourists visit India every year. Many of them go back spell bound and continue with their lives. Yet a few have a life changing experience and end up living here. One such woman, got inspired by the fine hand craftsmanship and started her brand. This is her story, as we get you Dextra brand of the month: Desi House.

It all started when jewellery designer Michaela Niegemann Sequeira came to India in 2011. While on a trip to Rajasthan, due to her jewellery business and later while going through the busy streets of Mumbai, a thought struck her. Michaela wondered if she could somehow take these handcrafted Indian products and give it a Scandinavian touch. Then introduce these them to the Scandinavian market. So in 2017, she went around Rajasthan all through the year, spotting the right craft people who could make her designs come alive. That is how her brand Desi House was created.

According to Michaela, the philosophy behind her brand is simple story telling of products made in India with a Scandinavian transformation. When asked, according to her what is the common factor between the Scandinavian design (synonymous with being minimalistic) vis-a-vis the Indian design (mostly maximalistic). Michaela replied, it is the love we share for handicrafts and how we have similar expressions when it comes to patterns and colours. Desi House is a brand that projects contemporary India with all it’s heritage within both design and craftsmanship.

This Swedish designer spent two weeks in Rajasthan, playing around with the yarn and learning about the traditional hand knotting of dhurries. During this process, Michaela had a surreal experience when she went through the small lane in midst of the dessert, to find herself in a village. It was a wonder land with women in neon colour sarees and men in turbans and curly moustaches. There were houses painted with age old stories, all this made her head spin. That moment gave her so much inspiration, also utter respect for the people working with a skill that carried through generations and the process is still the same. Except now that it’s her trying to capture something she found in India and transform it to rugs which include the Modern India, with all it’s heritage.

Desi House has it’s first collection which is rugs and cushions, all hand dyed and hand loomed in Rajasthan. Making these products environment friendly for the most part of it. Being a jewellery designer, the best moment for this Swedish designer was to see her designs coming alive through the real process of craft.