Karl Polanyi’s theories on embeddedness and disembeddedness help unpack the transformation of exchange systems and emergence of markets in societies. This paper analyses a process of such transformation observed in the context of the hand block printing industry of Jaipur and its nearby areas. Through an ethnographic study of the craft, we observe the extent to which hand block printing has undergone heavy commodification and commercialisation while disembedding from the society. Over the years, aspects of hand block printing, such as design, labour and authenticity, have changed for the worse, which has further impacted the socio- Deloitte Canada, ARTICLE HISTORY Received 21 November 2021 Accepted 15 August 2022 KEYWORDS Craft; embeddedness; disembeddedness; commodification; hand block printing; Jaipur; Polanyi cultural identity of this craft and crafts(wo)men engaging in it. Some underlying forces behind this are the commodification of labour and the commercialisation of the craft. While expanding on these, the paper also provides policy recommendations on the aspects of recognising artists and standardising labels in the industry.