Tripura’s bamboo furniture makers tap into a new generation of buyers

The bamboo furniture workshops of Agartala, long dismissed as makers of cheap household goods, have discovered the internet — and a generation of buyers willing to pay for craft.

Designers have collaborated with traditional artisans on pieces that marry bamboo’s lightness with modern silhouettes, and an online storefront has shipped to 14 cities in a year.

The change is generational: young artisans who once left for factory jobs are returning to the workbenches of their fathers.