Meet The Artisan Team
Dana Jays
Office Manager
Dana is responsible for the wholesale side of the business including coordination with the pricing team, organising worldwide shipments and deliveries, updating product information and taking care of all the administrative side of the international trade. Her varied, international portfolio aligns perfectly with her love for global cuisine and you’ll often see her with a plate of sushi, with far too much wasabi, during lunch hour at our office in Westminster, central London.
Michael Woodhead
Head of Tech
Michael is responsible for all our entire IT infrastructure — including data management, payment gateways, website integrations, online marketing, and the day to day management of the website you’re currently on! He’s been working for Artisan since the very beginning, and with over 25 years of experience in the field, Mike is the man behind the successful launch of Artisan Furniture’s brand. When not hunched over a laptop, Mike can be found enjoying a game of football over the weekend and trying out the latest tech launches that have struck his fancy, although likely not concurrently.
James Benstead
General Manager
James joined the Artisan team with over 30 years of experience of stock control, analysis and buying. He is responsible for ensuring stock is ordered and delivered in a timely fashion into the UK. A keen internationalist, he does this by maintaining close links and friendships with our overseas factories and suppliers based in India, China & Vietnam. Away from work, James volunteers his time at St John Ambulance, something which informs his compassionate manner with everyone he interacts with.
Owen Stephens
Officer
Owen is responsible for the dropship side of the business. On a usual weekday, you can find him allocating orders, tracking deliveries, and engaging in the usual administrative roles of our Westminster office. He also coordinates with our Jaipur team, and is a much beloved character for our Indian colleagues for his reports on English weather, cuisine and the weekend results of his football team.
Sue Basu
Head - India Ops
Part of the husband and wife team behind Artisan Furniture, Sue manages Artisan’s Indian operations. This wide remit means you’ll often find her on the phone with one of the company’s many artisan suppliers, or talking to the India team to solve a logistical concern. Her work takes her to Jaipur and north India to meet the local artisans and source new products, but her post-work interests lie further afield in South Korea — she’s a voracious watcher of k-dramas and is learning Korean in her spare time.
Joy Dutt
General Manager - Factory
Joy is our
main man in the heart of our furniture creation — the Jaipur factory. He oversees our creation departments, ranging from woodcarving to
packaging. Further, he’s responsible
for after
quality control of the furniture as well as colour processes that set our products apart. A keen lover of cheesy Indian soap
operas, Joy operates directly from our factory in Rajasthan, India and spends
his days sneaking in a telly episode between his hard work at operations.
Devraj Chowdhary
Chief Artisan Officer
Devraj is Artisan Furniture’s modern renaissance man — leading our product development team, working on novel construction techniques, creating furniture prototypes and even photographing the final product. He also works closely with artisans in Jaipur and beyond to address their needs and find new hidden gems to export worldwide. Devraj in a sense embodies the company’s ethos; having joined when the company was founded as a 18 year old from the small desert town of Barmer, he’s risen in the ranks to lead our artisan operations and support the crafts that defined his hometown.
Anu Jain
General Manager
Anu does not only manages administration at our office in Jaipur, she’s also our pricing guru — responsible for the overall pricing of all our products and service using a wealth of experience in the sector and her connections with the people involved. She’s been with Artisan for over a decade and her friendly yet firm demeanour makes her a much appreciated figure in both Jaipur and London.
Surbhi Gupta
Head - Exports
Surbhi, as our export lead, is responsible for the procurement of accessories alongside taking navigating the complex web of export documentations and licensing. She also efficiently manages the logging of our new products the catalogue and engages with corporate accounts pricing. After leaving our Jaipur office for a few years, she’s recently rejoined to reprise her old role. Surbhi is a keen watcher of Netfix drama thrillers and this may reflect in your email correspondences with her!
Jack D
Community & Content
The 21 year
old is our chief content writer on the Artisan Furniture website, along with supporting our push towards being a
sustainable, community based enterprise. Jack is responsible for ensuring that
our content hits the right note both with our clientele and the wider industry,
and balances this work with community outreach with our artisans and their
families in northwestern India. Jack’s been with Artisan for the better
part of 6 years, juggling his role with his full time International Relations
degree, and his varied interests spanning British-Indian culture and
socioeconomics, reading science fiction novels, and cooking up a fantastic
French dinner.
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