Tracing The Journey From Purpose To Practice

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Our Roots

The world today is increasingly shaped by market-driven growth, where culture, work, and even social values are treated as commodities. As societies move rapidly towards globalised models, many communities have grown distant from their land, traditions, and inherited knowledge systems. This shift has weakened rural economies, diluted cultural memory, and deepened our dependence on extractive industrial systems.

At the same time, unchecked industrialisation has strained natural resources, forests depleted, water polluted, and ecosystems pushed to the brink. Growing reliance on machines and non-renewable energy has made livelihoods increasingly fragile, with looming energy and ecological crises exposing the vulnerability of this model of growth.

Yet, India continues to be sustained by farmers, handloom weavers, and craft-based workers who form a significant part of the workforce. These livelihoods are rooted in practices that are inherently sustainable, community-led, and place-based. Strengthening them is not about nostalgia, it is about resilience, ecological balance, and the future of work itself.

Our Story

Desi Trust was founded in 1997 in Bengaluru with a simple but urgent purpose: to create a market for naturally dyed, handwoven products made by the Charaka Women's Society, and to connect rural production with urban consumers in meaningful ways.

What began as a marketing initiative gradually evolved into something larger. Alongside building markets for handmade products, Desi Trust expanded its work to support rural artisan communities through design interventions, technical skill-building, and financial support via developmental projects. The focus was always on strengthening livelihoods not as isolated economic activities, but as part of a broader social and ecological system. Over time, Desi Trust emerged as a key voice in the handloom movement in Karnataka and beyond. Working alongside other rural and handloom organisations across India, it has actively participated in advocacy movements such as the Kaimagga Satyagraha, Badanavalu Satyagraha, and GST tax-denial Satyagraha highlighting the structural challenges faced by handmade sectors.

Today, the Trust continues to engage in advocacy, research, documentation, and policy-oriented work around handlooms, livelihoods, ecological sustainability, and climate-linked challenges, collaborating with researchers, students, and institutions to deepen understanding and long-term impact.

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Our Impact

Desi Trust has supported artisan clusters by executing infrastructure and skill development projects. The Trust handles end-to-end project oversight right from the proposal stage till the final report submission, hand-holding the co-operatives or organizations at each step.

Desi Trust introduced the Bonus Programme for artisans and has provided not just year round work but also disbursed bonus each year to every artisan (weaver, pre-loom, post-loom, admin staff, helpers). This is a way to acknowledge their performance and also provide encouragement for them to produce better quantity and quality in the coming months. It has hugely helped the co-operative societies to retain the weavers. It has in 20 years disbursed an amount of over 1 crore.

Apart from the yearly bonus, Desi Trust has set aside a Development Fund that can be utilized for various in-house infrastructure activities, upgrading the facilities, improving the working conditions and providing the necessary training for the artisans. The co-operative society decides how the funds are utilized.

The Trust has been instrumental in creating a high-quality brand called “Desi” and enabling a thriving market for naturally dyed handwoven products and specialized handicrafts sourced from across India through retail stores. It has built this business from scratch to support the Womens’ Collective Charaka as well as provide a market for various women-led small businesses, rural enterprises and co-operatives.

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Our Ecosystem

Desi Trust’s work is closely linked to a wider ecosystem of organisations that share common roots, values, and histories, while each continuing to work with distinct roles and responsibilities. Together, these institutions form a connected network that has shaped and supported the evolution of handloom-based livelihoods and community-led initiatives over time.

Below are the organisations that are part of this ecosystem, including Charaka and Kavi Kavya Trust, each playing a unique role in building and sustaining this shared journey of practice and purpose.

Charaka

Charaka Women's Multipurpose Industrial Co-operative Society was formed in 1996 in Heggodu with just 13 women and two sewing machines. Today, it has grown into a 300+ member women-led cooperative, with over 600 artisans across eight districts of Karnataka.

Charaka is a producer organisation specialising in naturally dyed handwoven fabric and ready-made products. It is managed entirely by rural women, with a democratically elected Board of Directors who are also artisans within the cooperative. The brand Desi, known for authentic, local, and eco-friendly products, represents Charaka's production work.

In 2024, Desi Trust formally entrusted all sales, marketing, and brand ownership of Desi back to Charaka marking a clear structural separation between production and charitable work.

Kavi Kavya Trust

Kavi Kavya Trust, registered in 1994, played a foundational role in the early social and cultural work in Heggodu that eventually led to the formation of Charaka and later Desi Trust. Formed by a group of individuals committed to social change through cultural engagement, the Trust worked closely with local women in its early years.

Kavi Kavya Trust focuses on mobilising resources for developmental and community projects, including Charaka's growth initiatives. It also undertakes cultural programmes such as the annual Charaka Utsava, Buyers, Sellers Meets, and community projects like lake regeneration. While Desi Trust has no direct operational linkage with Kavi Kavya Trust today, their origins remain conceptually connected.