Gunjan Jain is a textile and craft designer and researcher based in New Delhi, India. In 2008, she founded Vriksh (vrikshdesigns.com), a social design studio in which she has been collaborating with handloom weavers in the state of Odisha, India, where her focus has been to revive the dying and lesser known weaves of Odisha like the Ganjam Bomkai weave and Dhalapathar weave. She is known for her innovative work in Ikat textiles, Jala (extra weft), and natural dyed textile techniques. She offers contemporary aesthetics in traditional indian textiles yet retaining the cultural significance with the primary focus to further empower the artisans and their livelihood.
Apart from Odisha, Gunjan has worked as a freelance designer in Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan on design development, skill training and capacity building, collaborating with master artisans on regional handcrafted textiles of block printing, hand embroidery and weaving.
She has displayed her textile works in India, the United States, Singapore, London, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Australia.
Gunjan has been honored with the UNESCO award for Significant Innovations in Traditional Crafts 2022 in Uzbekistand and named Vogue India Fashion Fund’s ‘Designer of the Year 2016’ in the Sari category. Her team of Vriksh weavers has won a record-setting eight National Awards and Odisha State Handloom Awards. Vriksh weavers have also been honoured with the Shanta Prasad Award for Excellence by the Crafts Council of India and the Sutrakar Samman by the Delhi Crafts Council.