At Made of Hands, our crochet keychains have become the most popular bag charms in our collection — not by design, but because our customers began styling them that way and the results spoke for themselves. A hand-crocheted whale on a canvas tote. A tiny octopus on a leather bag. A lavender sprig on a jute handle. The crochet character transforms the bag from a generic object into something that says something specific about the person carrying it.

Everything looks the same because it largely is. Manufactured to the same specifications, available in the same colours, designed to be replaced within a season. Accessories that could belong to anyone, which means they feel like they belong to no one. Crochet accessories in India are the opposite of this. They are made stitch by stitch, by a real person, from real yarn, in a process that cannot be mechanised without losing the thing that makes the object worth having.