Hidesign’s first customer, a German, ordered 1,400 leather bags.

It had just one cobbler then, named Murugan.

On the terrace of a modest home in Auroville, Dilip Kapur spent time making leather bags with Murugan, a local cobbler. There was no business plan, no production line, and certainly no ambition to build one of India’s best-known luxury brands. Having returned to India after years in the United States, Kapur was simply working with leather because he enjoyed it. Then, almost by chance, a German visitor to Auroville placed an order.

The story, however, began long before that order.

Raised in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, Kapur left India to study in the United States, first at Princeton University and later at the University of Denver, where he pursued a doctorate in International Affairs. Yet despite the opportunities abroad, one place kept drawing him back.