Shibani had set out one morning with a simple goal, to find authentic Thangka Art in Sikkim.
As someone who has dedicated her life to preserving and promoting traditional Indian crafts, Shibani wasn’t interested in the mass-produced replicas that greeted tourists in the markets. She was searching for authentic thangka art, the intricate Tibetan Buddhist paintings created with remarkable detail and spiritual significance.
Shibani began asking around. The first step to finding her authentic Thangka was to ask the hotel concierge, which led to a recommendation from him: “If you want to see real thangka art, look for an artist named Lakpa in a village on the mountainside.”
With only this name and vague directions, Shibani began her ascent up the steep mountain paths. At the first village, locals smiled knowingly when she mentioned Lakpa. “Not here,” they said, gesturing upward. “Try the next village.”
At the second village, higher still, the response was the same. “Lakpa? Yes, we know him. But he’s in the village above.” This pattern repeated at the third settlement, testing Shibani’s resolve with each climbing step.
Exhaustion setting in, Shibani nearly abandoned her search. “Just one more village,” encouraged a local woman, pointing to the settlement perched near the mountain’s peak.
In this fourth and final village, Shibani’s persistence was rewarded. “Yes, Lakpa is here,” confirmed a villager, directing her toward a modest home where children played and a woman washed utensils in the yard.
When asked about Lakpa, the woman simply pointed to a ladder leading to the highest room in the house, the quiet rooftop. What awaited Shibani above would become one of her most treasured memories as an art seeker.
As she emerged onto the rooftop studio, Shibani found herself in a scene of breathtaking beauty. There sat Lakpa, cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by small containers of pearl dust, gold dust, zinc powder, and lapis lazuli. Before him lay a Thangka painting of extraordinary detail and vibrancy. Through open windows behind him stretched the majestic panorama of Himalayan snow-capped peaks, as if nature itself had positioned the perfect backdrop for this artistic sanctuary.
At that moment, Shibani felt like an explorer who had discovered a hidden treasure. The authenticity of the setting, the artist’s complete absorption in his work, and the spectacular mountainscape framing it all created a convergence of art and nature that words could hardly describe.
For Shibani, this experience reinforced her philosophy that to truly understand traditional art forms, one must seek them in their authentic contexts, where the environment, culture, and craft are inseparably intertwined.
Why This Matters to Design
At Baaya, this philosophy shapes everything we do. Whether we’re collaborating with artisans in Sikkim, Kutch, or Rajasthan, we seek the source of the real places where tradition is lived, not just preserved.
Design, for us, is not just about beauty. It’s about honesty, context, and connection. It’s about celebrating stories like Lakpa’s quietly unfolding in the highest corners of the Himalayas and bringing their spirit into the spaces we create.
