RATANSHREE TEXTILES AND AJRAK HOUSE LLP

Our place, Ratanshree Textiles and Ajrak House LLP, is over in Block F 21 of the Bombay Gujarat Silk Vepari society. We are near Sahara Darwaja, right behind the Belha Mill compound. This is the heart of the old textile trade in Surat. It’s a very busy area, full of history and fabric. We deal a lot with Ajrak prints and traditional textiles, which is something we really care about. The shop isn't modern; it has that old-school feel with stacks of cloth reaching up to the ceiling. You can smell the dyes and the cotton as soon as you walk in. We spend our days unfolding fabric for people to see and then folding it all back up again. It’s a lot of physical work. We have a small bench where we sit and talk to the regulars. Sometimes we spend more time talking about family or the local news than we do about the business. It’s that kind of place. The society is crowded, and parking is always a nightmare, but we wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Behind the mill, you get a real sense of how much work goes into every piece of cloth. We just keep doing what we do, day in and day out, keeping the tradition going in our own small way. It’s a long day, but when you see the finished prints, it feels worth it to everyone here.