Handcrafted pieces ask for a little more than mass-produced ones, and give a good deal more back. Cotton knotted by hand, ceramic glazed in small batches, marble cut from natural stone, cutlery finished in warm gold — each wants slightly different care. This guide covers the whole Home edit in one place, so a soft sofa and a good table stay that way. For clothing, see our companion guide to caring for ethnic wear.
If you are deciding how ceramic, marble and table accents should sit together before caring for them, see our guide to styling an Indian dining table.
Cotton cushion covers: macramé and tufted
Our cotton cushion covers, the Chandni Macramé and the Jaali Tufted, both come as a set of two and are handmade cotton, so treat them gently. Hand wash in cold water with a mild detergent, do not wring, reshape the knots and tufting while damp, and dry flat in the shade — direct sun can yellow ivory over time. Skip the tumble dryer, which distorts texture, and iron only the plain back on a cool setting. Take the covers off before washing (every cover has a concealed zip) and wash them on their own so nothing catches the fringe or tassels. Wash the two covers of each pair together so they age at the same rate.
Glazed ceramic: cups, plates and bowls
Our ceramic — the Saanjh Cups, Heritage Blue Plates, Coastal Bloom Plates and Tulsi Green Bowls — is glazed and hard-wearing. Most pieces are microwave and dishwasher safe; the hand-painted cups stay brightest hand-washed. Avoid abrasive scouring pads, which dull any glaze, and do not shock the ceramic with sudden temperature changes. Small shifts in glaze tone are part of small-batch making, not wear.
How a piece behaves in heat, in a dishwasher and against turmeric depends on the clay body it is made from. Our guide to ceramic, stoneware, porcelain and bone china for Indian food compares the four in those terms.
Natural marble: coasters and tray
The Table Companions coasters and the Quiet Table Marble Tray are cut from natural stone. Marble is porous, so wipe clean with a damp cloth and dry — this keeps the polish best. They are dishwasher safe, but acids matter most: wipe up lime, vinegar, wine or citrus promptly, as they can etch a dull mark if left to sit. A little veining and tonal variation is the stone itself, not a flaw.
Gold-tone cutlery
The Zari Gold Dessert Spoons are stainless steel with a warm gold-tone finish. Unlike the ceramics, these are not for the dishwasher. Hand wash with a soft cloth, dry immediately, and avoid abrasive scrubs and long acidic soaks. Store them where they are not knocking against harder metal, and the finish stays bright for years.
The general rule
Handmade things last longest when they are used often and cleaned gently. Nothing here needs babying — a damp cloth over the marble, a hand wash for the gold and the covers, and a little attention to acids and abrasives. It is the same principle that runs through everything we make, which we wrote about in Made Slowly, Made to Last.
Storage matters as much as washing. Our dinnerware quantity guide covers stack heights, cloth liners and why most chips happen in the cabinet rather than at the table.
Why a handmade object asks for a different kind of attention
A mass-produced piece is easily replaced, which is exactly why it rarely gets the care a handmade one deserves. Something shaped by hand, a knotted cushion cover, a reactive-glaze bowl, carries hours of one person's specific attention, and returning a little of that care is not sentimentality, it is what actually keeps the piece looking considered rather than tired years after purchase.
Building a simple home-care routine, not a ritual
The pieces that stay beautiful longest tend to belong to households with a light, consistent habit rather than an occasional deep clean under pressure. A quick wipe of marble after use, a predictable hand-wash schedule for cushion covers, mindful storage between uses, none of it takes more than a few minutes, but it compounds meaningfully over years of ownership in a way a single thorough clean never does.
What NOT to do with handcrafted home pieces
A short list of true no-gos protects most of what is handcrafted: no abrasive scouring on any glazed or polished surface, no acidic spill, wine, citrus, vinegar, left sitting on marble, no dishwasher for a gold-tone or plated finish, no prolonged direct sunlight on naturally dyed or hand-painted work. Nearly every damage report we hear traces back to one of these avoidable habits rather than to genuine everyday wear.
Seasonal care considerations
Humid monsoon months call for extra vigilance with anything textile-based in the Home edit, since damp air slows drying and invites mildew far more readily than in drier months. Winter tends to be kinder to fabric but harder on skin-adjacent metal finishes if indoor heating dries the air significantly. Adjusting a care routine slightly with the season, rather than applying one fixed approach year-round, keeps every piece performing at its best.
When to repair rather than replace
A loosened knot on a macramé cover, a minor chip at a marble edge, a dulled gold-tone spoon, these are, in most cases, worth repairing rather than replacing outright. A local craftsperson can often revive a piece more affordably than buying new, and doing so keeps a handmade object's particular story intact instead of starting over. Reach us through our Contact Us page if you are unsure whether a piece from our own Home edit can be restored.
Why handmade variation is not a defect
Two cushion covers from the same batch, two bowls from the same glaze firing, will never be perfectly identical, and that is worth understanding before you unbox anything from our Home edit rather than after. The tension in a hand-knot, the pool of a reactive glaze, the vein in a slab of marble, each carries the specific conditions of the moment it was made: the humidity that day, the exact firing temperature, the particular block of stone it was cut from. A piece that looked flawless and identical in every unit would, by definition, have been made by machine rather than by hand.
Passing pieces down, not just keeping them
Well-cared-for handcrafted objects tend to outlast the household that first bought them, which is part of why we think about durability as seriously as we do. A marble tray or a set of ceramic bowls, kept with basic care, can reasonably be expected to move into a second home eventually, whether given, inherited or simply carried along a family's next move. That is a different design brief than most home goods are built to, and we think it is the right one.
None of this requires a museum-level care regimen. In our experience, the households that keep handmade pieces looking best simply use them often and clean them promptly, rather than treating them as too precious for daily life, which paradoxically tends to be what shortens a piece's useful life the most.
If you are ever unsure whether a particular piece from our Home edit can handle a specific cleaning method, ask us before trying it. A quick question beats an avoidable mistake on something that took real time to make.
Frequently asked questions
Can I machine wash a macramé or tufted cushion cover?
Hand washing in cold water is best. A machine, even on a gentle cycle, can pull the knots and tufting out of shape and fray the fringe. Reshape while damp and dry flat.
Should I wash both covers in a set together?
Yes. Both the Chandni and the Jaali arrive as a set of two, and washing each pair together keeps the ivory tone, knot tension and pile height matched as they age. Give them room in the basin rather than crowding them.
Are the ceramic pieces dishwasher and microwave safe?
Most are, including the Tulsi bowls and the pasta and quarter plates. Hand-painted cups last longest hand-washed. Always avoid abrasive scouring and sudden temperature shocks.
How do I clean marble coasters and trays?
Wipe with a damp cloth and dry to preserve the polish. They are dishwasher safe, but wipe up acidic spills such as lime, vinegar or wine quickly, as acids can etch marble if left to sit.
Can gold-tone spoons go in the dishwasher?
No, hand wash only. Dishwasher heat and detergent wear down a plated finish. Wash gently, dry immediately, and they keep their shine.
Why do two of the same piece look slightly different?
Because they are handmade. Reactive glaze pools differently each firing, marble veins uniquely, and hand-knotting and tufting vary in tension. Even the two covers in a Jaali set differ a little in pile and tassel fall. That variation is the mark of a made object — no two are exactly alike.
Keep the Home edit beautiful for years. Browse the full Home collection, and if you are setting a table, read how to set an Indian dessert table or how to style textured cushion covers.
Correction, 22 September 2026: an earlier version of this article described the Chandni Macramé Cushion Cover as a single cover. It is sold as a set of two, at ₹1,499 for the pair, and the text above has been updated to match.
