One founder,
one point of view.

The house
I could never find.

I have always believed that clothes should make ordinary days feel a little more intentional.

I was twelve when I first became fascinated by fashion. I spent hours stitching, embroidering and inventing my own designs. I would look at a garment and immediately wonder what I could change — the silhouette, the colour, the detail, the way it could become something else.

Eventually, people started noticing.
“Where did you get that?”
I would tell them, “I designed it.”
Then they began asking me to design and customise pieces for them too. I never outgrew that curiosity.

As I grew older and began searching for clothes for myself, I often found myself wanting something that was difficult to find — pieces that felt refined without feeling excessive, beautifully considered without feeling precious, and special enough to be remembered but easy enough to actually live in.

I kept returning to one simple truth: we have 365 days to get dressed, not ten. Looking and feeling considered shouldn't be reserved for parties. So I built the house I could never find.

A&I is a contemporary womenswear label created in small runs in India. We pay close attention to design, fabric, construction and finish — creating pieces that feel distinctive, refined and made to be lived in.

Every garment must earn its place. It must feel good on the body. It must be thoughtfully made. And it must still feel right long after the first wear. We believe in making less, making carefully, and creating pieces that can become part of a woman's real wardrobe — not just her special-occasion wardrobe.

I still design with the same curiosity I had as a girl. Only now, the pieces leave my table and find their way into other women's lives. This is A&I — clothes for the full year, made with care, meant to be lived in.

— Artee Makhija, Founder & Creative Director, A&I

39 pieces later, that's still the only rule I follow: if it doesn't earn its place on the rail, it isn't made.