Where Art meets Travel!

Creating an opportunity in the crisis Rajasthan Studio weaves a unique experience for travellers

Travel is slowly but firmly moving from mass to niche. This is a trend which will be gaining strength further as we move towards new normal in travel sector. While COVID-19 induced lockdown has been a total disaster for travel, tourism and hospitality sector in general across the globe, there had been few entrepreneurs who sensed an opportunity in this impasse and started carving a place for themselves.

Rajasthan Studio has been one among the handful. It curates art trips for travellers, thus exposing them to another aspect of travel. And, it is definitely not about taking traveller to an art emporium. It is way beyond that, where it brings artists and art lovers together on a journey through an art. It isn’t a tourist experience but it is a trip which every such traveller will like to have who wants to see beyond the normal eyes.

As a start-up, Rajasthan Studio came up a couple of years before the lockdown strike. But this crisis had its share of ups as well as downs and Rajasthan Studio—as a unique marketplace for art experiences—kept itself firmly footed and looking for opportunities. Recently Rajasthan Studio hosted an exclusive art workshop on Tie & Dye for Google Inc, which was attended by Googlers from around the world.

We talked in detail to Founder CEO of Rajasthan Studio Kartik Gaggar about the idea and its conceptualization, and about also his journey so far. Here are the excerpts of the interview-

How did the idea of Rajasthan Studio come up? Was it just because of the family roots or there was some other affinity to Rajasthan?

The brand Rajasthan Studio was not the idea. Originally, the idea was to actively invest in the Experiences economy sector through Kamaai Capital. But after the preliminary research exploring and meeting companies from around the world, I realized that the problem was even bigger which no one was looking at. The problem at the root level. The current inventory for experiences/activities to do around in a tourist destination is the same old inventory which has been available for years (only difference is the change of medium / method / brands) and no innovation has been done to add authentic experiences from passion driven people.

I researched across cities, states around the country and I felt Rajasthan—not just because I had my family roots—was unexplored. And to cover the state in genuity it would take at least a few years. There is no state which would have as many tourist destinations as Rajasthan would. Since the younger generations (millennials and gen-z) consume experiences over things. The idea was to connect the younger generation to other humans and the possibility of habituating them to experiences, besides just goods and services. This was the basic intention. Through much observation, research and elaboration of the experience market, Rajasthan Studio was born to connect the rich and wide variety of handicraft and rare art practiced in Rajasthan to art lovers and travelers around the world.

Why art and not any other genre? Any inspiration? Just an enterprise or some feeling of social responsibility?

In a world of scientists and doctors, be an artist. No, this is not a quote by a popular philosopher, this is just my philosophy. Art is rare. That is why we need artists to connect the dots. The artists we meet and connect with, are unique and carry the legacy of their artform. However, this fast paced, metropolitan world is reducing the value of art to nil. The recognition, the viability of artists and their art, need to be brought back in people’s hearts and minds. Posting about supporting ‘Vocal for Local’ must not be limited to social media; it must be thoroughly imbibed and practiced. So, that is what I did. I communicated and connected with an untapped section of artists to provide them a platform that would be the future of art experiences all around the world. Also, as stated in the beginning, the non-artist section feels that art is unapproachable. How do we undo that thinking? Simply by making them believe that Art is for All. Through short art experiences and hands-on guided workshops, art is now approachable with Pandora of possibilities!

How risky was it to leave established careers and put everything into a start-up?

With huge risks comes greater returns. Yes, it was undoubtedly risky to leave behind a well paying job, but there was a constant push everyday. My passion was so fierce that I questioned myself, “If not now then, when?” And I found my answer. When you are young, you are full of fervour to learn about new things. With your money you wish to start investing in various assets. For me, I believe, that asset was my idea. And I am happy with my choice to start my own venture.

How did you select the different arts to invest upon?

I have always been a keen writer of travelogues. I am also an avid traveler and love exploring the unexplored nooks and corners of cities and towns. My travel ventures have made me habituate with diverse cultures, languages and people. This became my backdrop for research in data and content for connecting with unique experiences providers who were looking for empowerment and upliftment. And hence flooded the diverse, distinct and different artforms for me to explore and invest upon. I felt Rajasthan being a tourist friendly destination had a huge gap in terms of the rich dying art and the variety of art forms which majorly no one knew about, could be bridged to travelers and art lovers through in-person guided art activities.

How good is this project for an artist, especially those who were finding it hard to sustain? Is it in position to give these arts a second life?

Absolutely! That is the objective. The focus is on vocal for local, sustaining and preserving artforms, and bridging the gap between these local artists and their audience. At all levels, this is an opportunity to valorise their time and help them create a digital image simultaneously.

Taping an unstructured sector and creating value for artists as a first-mover is definitely very challenging. But with a roadmap of 5-10 years along with a rock solid team and partners sustaining this wouldn’t be a problem I assume.

What is the response from the art fraternity at large? Do they encourage it or find it useful?

The response was encouraging and I was moved. They were positively provoked at the proposition that at last someone thought of their well-being and legacy and wanted to give back to art. The art fraternity received us very well and heartily encouraged and blessed us to pursue our ambitions and achieve success.

What is the response from art lovers or normal travellers? What diverse clientage do you have? Any corporate engagements?

One thing that is established by now is that Art is for All. No matter how much is discredited, one cannot part ways from it. So, the mere realisation of various clients that something like an art experience existed had them startled. They overwhelmingly joined and sent in positive and inspirational feedback. Recently, we have collaborated with Google Inc as a part of our Employee Engagement Programme. Super excited for it!

Was lockdown a hindrance or a blessing in disguise?

Both. Hindrance in terms of no inflow of tourists and domestic travelers. But it would be wrong if I said that it wasn’t a blessing in disguise. It made us discover opportunities that we didn’t know were waiting to be found. We expanded our vertical ‘The Circle’ which is an invite-only community of artists to connect and swap art ideas whilst engaging in an art workshop/live session. Many artists became a part of this community and The Circle is now 1000+ artists! Where online experiences were only periodical, they became an event of everyday life at Rajasthan Studio. We started with just one experience a day with 7-8 attendees and now we are organising three events per day with more than 100+ attendees! Definitely, lockdown was a blessing in disguise for us.

Is it good enough to sustain and engage a team, what you have with you right now?

Yes, teamwork is very important. Since, the experiences market is a niche market, it is all the more necessary to engage with a team and simultaneously build it. It is greatly challenging though as a brand does not exist for a limited period of time; it exists to achieve a macro goal. So to fulfill that life-long macro point of view, working and refining a team is necessary and needed.

What does the near future look like? Do you plan to engage in some other art forms, untouched so far?

The near future is very exciting. As we have just started out, there is a lot of exploration left to make. By March 2021, we plan to add two new cities to our marketplace alongside Jaipur, Udaipur and Jodhpur. These cities are Bikaner and Jaisalmer. Now, when we talk about art, it means art in all forms.

Over the past few months, we have added a new vertical – Online Experiences and are now doing business with 100+ passionate artists from more than 25+ cities across India for virtual experiences. Apart from in-person workshops we also plan to venture into art walks, in-artist residency programs and art tours for students from colleges/schools..

We have also ventured into the folk music experiences with Aathun. Aathun is a non-for-profit initiative by Rajasthan Studio that connects the folk artists of Rajasthan to people from across the world, via live online sessions on YouTube. The viewers can then pay as they like, through instant payment methods like UPI, Paytm, Google Pay etc portrayed on their screens which directly goes to the artist’s pocket. The design is to financially enable the folk artists of Rajasthan affected by the pandemic. Besides this, we are going to add undiscovered artforms from cities which are unexplored to our experience culture to diversify the reach and add more and more artists.

What are the new learnings for you at the individual level that came during the course of this project?

The learnings were manifold – this market is huge; even more huge than we realised when we were researching it. At an individual level, I was startled by my discovery. There was a huge market to bridge and it required a great deal of time and effort. The challenges that surfaced my way were inevitable as I was tapping an untapped, niche market. But all these realisations made by belief strong that yes I am made for this- for this curation, innovation and research purely dedicated to any experience. This was my learning. Also the keys to ventureful startup are hard work and consistency, which I have dedicatedly imbibed in my day-to-day work culture.

You can visit Rajasthan Studio website for more details.