Karuna Laungani & Gauri Verma

Karuna Laungani and Gauri Verma are fashion stylists turned entrepreneurs and designers. The two met while working at Elle, a fashion magazine, and immediately connected over a shared love for craft and a fun, serendipitous coincidence that they both had a twin sibling. When they decided to start a brand together they named it Jodi, the Hindi word for pair.

Their experience in the fashion industry made them realise early on that India’s highly-skilled artisans would play a key role in their label. This led to a few months-long search for the perfect production partner that took them from Telangana to Gujarat and finally ended in the old city of Jaipur. That was where they met Shankarlalji, a generational hand-block printing artisan. Over meals with his family, sipping chai on his terrace, and ideating in the workshop above his home, the first Jodi collection with 30 pieces was born. And a few years later, Shankarlalji’s son Vicky had his own set of twin girls. Serendipitous!

Along with Shankarlalji and his team of four, Jodi partners with multiple small-scale manufacturers on techniques ranging from bandhini dyeing to zardozi embroidery. They release four collections a year and offerings include womenswear, menswear, home, jewellery and even pet accessories.