Thoughts for this week

What we've learnt about handloom is that the cotton threads at the start are really weak, but when they come together, the fabric is unbelievably strong.

As we celebrate the Pakistani and Indian Independence days this week (August 14 and 15 respectively), we'd like to get inspired by this process. Here's to working together to grow stronger and better :)

Summer 2012 Updates

• Our first ever Free product giveaway (yes, its all free!) contest on Facebook has just started! All you have to do is upload a favorite summer picnic photo to win free fabrics! More details here.

• Indu was interviewed by the Women's Web Magazine, here's the read.

• Unbelievably successful Annual Clearance Sale of our previous collections. It ends on August 15 2012, so you've still got a few days to get the best deals!

• Guest blogging at Yours Sustainably, thanks Jessica!

• Our fabrics are now available at the Good Earth stores in India and Terrain (Anthropologie's sister concern) in the United States.

• We worked with Wendell Rodricks to create this custom threaded shawl based on his design. So pumped to see it on the runway at the Lakme India Fashion Week in Mumbai this past week!

• Our Fair Trade certification process made some headway as we were visited by the Fair Trade Forum India's team to verify details of our team and collaborators (including the weaving co-operatives). As we hope to hear back from them, we're keeping our fingers crossed for the green signal :)

• We experimented with some thicker weave techniques, with some lovely results.

• Sarah Lin of Ellie Fun Day visited our studio and wrote up a sweet article on her blog with some nice photos!

•  Lakshmi Rammohan, the director of Dreamweaver Weddings commissioned us to create some custom giveaways and bride+groom sets for some upcoming events for Fall 2012. This is still in underway, but we're so excited to work with this incredibly talented event manager!

Wendell Rodricks and India Fashion Week 2012

Wendell Rodricks (image courtesy WendellRodricks.com)

A few months ago we got in touch with the Indian fashion designer Wendell Rodricks after Revathy (our project partner) mentioned our work to him. He had an idea to do a custom weave for his runway show at the Lakme India Fashion Week 2012 in Mumbai that concluded this past week ("Omg, for real?!!"-- was my reaction when Indu told me). To say that we were over-the-moon was quite an understatement, as we've been fans of this talented designer's work for ages!

Based out of Goa, Wendell's works a lot of structure and form into his design, and the hallmark of his creations have always been the way he works with white and off-white to make the garment's cut and construction stand out. In so many ways, his work fit our portfolio of fabrics so effortlessly!

What he wanted was a woven shawl with loose yarn detailing in White, Black and Brown shades. He sent us a detailed drawing and images of how he wanted this piece to work. We set about working with our weavers and here is the finished piece in our studio and on the runway at the LFW2012 (Show images courtesy The Times of India, Rediff.com)

Quick grainy shot of the piece in our studio, before we sent it over to Wendell.

The Times of India coverage of the show (images from TOI)

Another image of the runway event at LFW 2012 (via rediff.com)

As this collaboration draws to a close, we're so utterly thrilled to check this item off our dream-wishlist, and are overjoyed about getting the humble Kerala thorthu on the fashion runway! Wendell, we're so thrilled & proud to work with you and look forward to many such opportunities! xoxo, Indu & Chitra.

(ps: If you're a fashion designer and reading this, yes, email us about working together!)