For nearly 14 years, Bengaluru-based Varnam has reimagined Indian craft for contemporary living—less reverence, more curiosity. Working with artisan clusters across the country, the studio has built a reputation for objects that sit between function, storytelling, and delight. Along the way, an audacious idea took shape: what if Indian craft could produce a family of characters as emotionally enduring as Disney classics? The answer is the Snugglewalas—a whimsical universe of handcrafted Channapatna toys.
There’s a curious pig, a meditative panda, a dreamy bumblebee, a musical cow, a dignified rooster, a gentle elephant, a wise giraffe, and more. Each has been turned and painted in Channapatna over 18 months of design, and prototyping. “Our creations may appear as toys, but they carry functional value and a sense of whimsy that has defined our design language,” says founder and principal designer Karthik Vaidyanathan. True to that ethos, the Snugglewalas moonlight as pencil boxes, whistles, piggy banks, and desk companions.
“Drawing from my background in radio, I began weaving narratives around each of them… a family of toys that connects emotionally, not just visually,” Vaidyanathan says. Ten craft clusters reinterpret the Snugglewalas in their own idioms: Channapatna meets Kashmiri naqqashi and crewel embroidery; Sanganer and Mughal block printing sit beside Lambadi embroidery; Mirzapur dhurries share space with Namda felt, crochet, brass jewellery from Bengal, and ceramics from Kolar and Bengaluru.
Conceived as a travelling showcase, the exhibit turns the Snugglewalas into unlikely ambassadors of Indian craft—it laughs, travels, and invites you along.