ABOUT THE DESIGNER

“CRAFT TO ME IS NOT SURFACE. IT IS A LIVED EXPERIENCE. IT IS THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN PAST AND PRESENT”

- MONICA SHAH

I didn’t grow up wanting to be a fashion designer. I grew up inside museums, libraries, old buildings, and places where history wasn’t archived in display cases but lived in air, in texture, in the way people carried themselves.

I remember walking through CSMVS as a child, attending Paramparik Karigar exhibitions, feeling the pull of centuries-old textiles and handwork before I knew what that pull meant. I remember watching women in Bombay move with quiet confidence, balancing strength and femininity without needing to announce either. I remember how the sunlight would reflect off embroidered torans in our home, or how the weight of a handwoven sari folded stories into itself. And most of all I remember watching women in Bombay move with quiet confidence, balancing strength and femininity without needing to announce either.

All of this shaped my way of seeing, my way of creating.

A VISION FOR THE FUTURE

Monica Shah is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of JADE, and the Founder of the Grassroot Artisans Project.

When JADE was founded in 2008, it was not to follow trends. It was to honour an intention. To magnify craft. Rather than approaching crafts as static traditions, the focus remains on continuity and evolution. To give artisans a platform where their work is not a footnote in fashion but an equal partner.

That conviction also led to the Grassroot Artisans Project - a long-term commitment to create an ecosystem that preserves and honours grassroots communities while ensuring a steady and sustainable flow of work for them.

“IN A WORLD DEFINED BY ALGORITHMS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, AUTHENTICITY BECOMES OUR QUIET ACT OF RESISTANCE.”

Through the human hand, we find clarity, connection, and calm. Each piece we create is a reminder that identity cannot be automated — it must be lived, touched, and felt.

- MONICA SHAH

A distinguished TEDx speaker and a graduate of Central Saint Martins, her multidisciplinary background spans interiors, couture, and international design collaborations. In recognition of this work, Monica has received numerous honours, including a Special Honour from the Ministry of Textiles (2024) for the Grassroot Artisans Project, PETA India’s Compassionate Designer Award, Vogue India’s Forces of Fashion (2023), Grazia India’s Contemporary Craftsmanship Award (2022), and Luxebook’s 50 Most Influential Women in Luxury (2021), among others.

MONICA IN WORDS

INSTINCTIVE

Bombay Chic is Monica’s design philosophy for JADE. Born in Mumbai, the city of her birth, the philosophy celebrates beauty that emerges when contrasts coexist - when craft meets culture, and the handmade finds harmony with the modern. It is not a style or trend, but a state of mind - the soul of a city translated into design. From its textile mills to its theatres, from Art Deco boulevards to its sea-worn docks, the city has always embraced influence and reimagined it as its own. That spirit of adaptation lies at the heart of Bombay Chic. Each collection becomes an echo of the city’s heartbeat; alive, layered, and endlessly curious. Bombay Chic is not only the world Monica creates - it is the way she wishes to move through it. It is curiosity without boundaries, reverence without rigidity. To blend worlds gracefully, to honour what was, while imagining what can be. A spirit - so inclusive, intuitive, and ever-evolving that it defines how she designs, collaborates and lives

CURIOUS

Every collection starts with the question, “What haven’t we explored yet?” It could be a new weave, a shift in proportion, or a different way of thinking about function. This curiosity drives every craft-pocket visit, discovery of new art forms and how to make them her own. At JADE, Monica reduced the grammage of Kanjeevaram so it can be used in lighter, contemporary silhouettes like gowns, jackets, separates. That’s what innovation in craft really means, to be curious enough to adapt and learn from it - so people can wear them in their everyday lives.

TO LEAD WITH INTENTION

In our spaces and stories, the circle recurs - in architecture, mirrors, and motifs. It represents the rhythm of making: repetition, refinement, and renewal. Every piece begins and ends in the hands of a craftsperson, forming an unbroken circle between tradition and transformation. It speaks of time as a continuum - where heritage doesn’t fade, it evolves. In that sense, the circle isn’t just a design symbol; it’s the core of JADE's philosophy.