Open-air rural weekly markets or haat-s in India have always been spaces for economic and social exchange. Nestled within a forest of Sonajhuri trees dotting the eroded landscape of khoai off Santiniketan in West Bengal, Sonajhuri haat serves as a dynamic site for cultural expression where local artisans, artist-designers, tribals, and folk artists assert their identities through the exhibition-cum-sale of traditional handicrafts, handloom, food, music and dance, thus contributing to intangible cultural heritage of Santiniketan and attracting cultural tourists. In last two decades, the haat has expanded manifold from a quaint weekly market into a popular tourist destination and now operates daily with 500-800 artisans or vendors selling their wares spread under the trees. Catering to a growing consumer base, the range of goods has also expanded to include machine-made furnishing, readymade garments, and decorative crafts. Drawing from its rising popularity as a model for retail commerce and an asset for cultural tourism, several such haats have subsequently come up locally, either as government-run permanent craft exhibitions (e.g., Biswa-Bangla haat) or ad-hoc markets in leftover spaces. Driven by its commercial success, ‘Sonajhuri’ is now a popular brand which even other Indian cities are emulating to create rural-themed craft-based tourist destinations in urban contexts. Given this, the study is aimed at identifying the process of brand-making involved. Employing ethnographic survey methods, including participant observation, and interviews with artisans, tourists, and market organizers, this study maps the transformation of Sonajhuri Haat, while identifying the visual, cultural, narrative, and experiential elements, which contribute to the making of the ‘brand’. It also probes what gets lost or gained in translation when other local craft-markets emulate the haat, since blind emulation may not be responsive to every local context, thereby adding to environmental strain and creating potential risks of brand dilution and economic displacement