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This is the story of how TAIC's first collection, numbered 100, came to be. Ahmedabad figured as a short but pivotal stop in my larger travel plans across North India to explore Indian crafts in the summer of 2017. Although it wasn't my mecca, I walked away with both insight and gnawing questions.

A year ago, after boldly starting The All India Co, I was struck with the immensity of taking the first step. While I knew the direction, I didn't know where to begin. Surprisingly, lessons from business school stayed with me like life lessons and were my north star. The first lesson: Econ 101: I remember our professor, marching into the class without casting so much as a glance at us and hurriedly scribbling, "no free lunch." This didn't make any sense to me, as just that morning, I had grabbed one of Timmie's freebies - a small coffee. By the...

The All India Company is based on the premise that the arts have the ability to create significant non-farm employment in rural India. One of the best things India has to offer are its handcrafted goods. These are handmade by artisans using techniques only learned from previous generations. Not only do these forms of craftsmanship inherently use sustainable processes and materials, they also generate secondary employment. What's not to love? However, much like anything else, craftsmanship isn't taught but learned. The growing migration of artisans towards trades in search of a sustainable livelihood are the tell-tale signs of a dying industry....

Although following in my father's footsteps is much more difficult than I thought, I have hope. The hope lies in the idea of building a sustainable community similar to Literacy House, where people find meaning in work, slow down without dropping out and, in the end, create something that lifts all boats and is truly worth passing on to others. The most meaningful thing about Literacy House was that it was founded and operated by like-minded individuals. The impact of their work was much larger than that of their individual lives and perhaps in knowing that, they found satisfaction of...

The only place that ever felt like home was this community, called Literacy House. At the request of Mahatma Gandhi, Mrs. Welthy Fisher, an American missionary, founded Literacy House in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1950s. Its motto clearly summarized their big idea, "It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." The training institute pioneered adult education in India and was established as a model to be replicated across the world to eradicate poverty. By the 1990s, it had its own mass comm training center that brought in revenue, its own farms to train young farmers,...