Blogging the Stories of India’s Handicrafts: How Jaypore.com Promotes Its Brand

Online store Jaypore.com sells and showcases handcrafted products from India, including embroidered sarees, hand-painted dupattas, silver jewelry, home decor, traditional art, and more. On Jaypore’s blog, Storytellers of Wonder, the company digs deeper, highlighting artisans and collectives and educating readers on the customs and crafts processes of regions in India.

Here, the Jaypore team talks about the blog as a place to tell stories, to strengthen relationships with their customers, and to build and promote their brand.

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You’re interested in storytelling, rather than simply providing an online space that sells products. How does the blog bring this philosophy to life?

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Jaypore’s goals reach beyond mere selling. We highlight crafts that make up the rich tapestry of India’s artistic legacy, of our beautiful textiles, jewelry-making, embroideries — a complex and dense syntax of patterns and motifs.

Over the years, Indian design has evolved and has reached into this rich heritage to create decor, jewelry, art, and outfits that speak an elegant global language and appeals to contemporary aesthetics.

Read more about Kantha, Khesh, and Bidri work.

On our blog, we’re able to share the stories, the nuances of these crafts. For example, the subtle differences in saree weaving as we travel across the country, the genesis of Kantha and Khesh, how Bidri work has managed to stay relevant for centuries, how papier-mâché came to India… The blog gives us the luxury of explaining, and is akin to sitting down with friends and sharing new things you’ve discovered. It is an intimate conversation.

On the blog, we’re also able to tell our customers how they’re contributing to the revival of these crafts, ensuring they stay in the mainstream.

On our blog, we’re able to share the stories, the nuances of these crafts.

How does Storytellers of Wonder help you connect with your customers? How is the blog different from, say, your Instagram account or Facebook page?

Building a relationship isn’t only about providing a good product. It’s something more intangible.

At Jaypore, we don’t only sell products; we talk to our customers through our blog, which is a treasure trove of Indian craft. When people understand how crafts are being revived, how a particular crafts community works, and which region a product belongs to, they cherish the piece even more — there’s immense value in knowledge. Building a relationship isn’t only about providing a good product. It’s something more intangible.

We’d say our blog and social media are cut from the same cloth; they’re just different silhouettes. While the blog is detailed and demands time, on Facebook and Instagram, we focus on going back to our roots in India via content that can be consumed on the go.

On Instagram, we focus on beautiful imagery and short snippets on India’s textiles, crafts, architecture, food, music, dance, and everything in between. On Facebook, we take that a step further by providing informative and engaging content, which makes readers think. In all three mediums, we do our best to maintain consistency — even if the content is different, the essence is the same.

We’d say our blog and social media are cut from the same cloth; they’re just different silhouettes.

What’s one piece of advice for business owners thinking of launching a blog to complement their online store?

A blog can be the perfect opportunity to talk about everything that defines your brand.

A blog can be the perfect opportunity to talk about everything that defines your brand. People who shop for lifestyle products online aren’t necessarily looking only for products. They’re interested in the stories, the histories of those products. A blog can fulfill this need. It can also help your customers understand your brand better and engage with it.

Try not to hawk products through your blog. Focus on building your brand’s identity instead.

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