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Hello dear readers,

As you've noticed we've not been very regular at updating this blog. That's because we have been so busy with making new textiles and posting updates to our social media accounts. You can meet us there to see photos, videos and fun links we like, from all around the interwebs. 

Here are the places where we're now focused on:

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

See you all soon! 

-xoxo
Chitra

After the long absence..

Wooden pre-looming instruments at the Weaving Co-operative

We've been absent here on the blog for a bit, cannot believe the year is ending already! Here's a peek at what we've been working on:

• The wonderful Jessica Custer from the MBAs Without Borders program has been our advisor since September until December 2013. We've been working on a number of things with her, including a marketing strategy, setting up systems to streamline work in our studio and getting our sales strategy in order. As she winds up by late December, all we can think about is how much we'll miss her! :(

• We've been working with the talented photographer, photojournalist and Fulbright scholar Seema Krishnakumar on a small video for Kara. Its still in progress, and more on that soon!

• We were invited to do a brief guest-post about our work on Kochi Post.

• Great new feature about our partner Given Goods Co. and our products on Design Crush.

• Organic yarn!! We've been working on a small sample of organic yarn from Kutch via Khamir. Excited to see where this new direction leads us.

• We've also hired some wonderful new people: Mallika, our textile designer + production lead and Sunitha, our front office co-ordinator.

• A tonne of new collaborations with some amazing people. Notably Ecru in Kuwait, School House Electric in the US, Dune Eco Group in Kochi and a few new ones that we'll be revealing on our site soon!

More regular updates on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram, so catch up with us there!

2013 reasons to get excited!

Its three months since my last post here and what a busy time it's been! Firstly a very Happy New Year to all of you :)

Here at Kara we've been frantically working on some great new wholesale orders as well as gearing up for our debut at the New York Gift Fair in the juried Global Handmade section!

We've divided up the work pretty evenly: Indu has been handling the production and follow up of all the weaving work in Kerala and I am working on all the trade fair set up details here in Boston. As I sit here going over my million checklists and looking at the busy few weeks ahead, I'm also giddy with excitement for all the wonderful people we'll have a chance to meet!

So if you're there, stop by booth #532 to meet us!

September at the Studio

Photo-updates on our activities in and outside the studio, over the past few weeks:

We were finally all at the same place to get a team snap: (l-r) Chitra, Indu, Sreedevi, Sandhya, Revathy, Annu

This month was also when Indu and I made a quick trip to Singapore and Australia for some work and family visits:

A Koala-bum and us at the lovely Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary near Brisbane :)

The Singapore trip was to meet some family, and we loved the busy and charming city!

After the brief trip, we got back to the studio to resume work for all our lovely buyers:

Bathrobes getting packaged for the Good Earth stores.

Sandhya and Annu waterproofing a shipment for CGH Earth's Swaswara resort in Goa.

Table napkins awaiting packaging, for Terrain in the USA.

Meanwhile, our experiments in new weaves continues, as we broaden our wholesale portfolio:

Corded yarn bunches interwoven with the fine yarn.

Our brand new kitchen towels and napkins in jewel tones.

Combination of thick yarn cords and fine weave for table mats.

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!)

Fresh off the looms

Here's a peek at our new unbleached yarn experiment to make a multipurpose product: at once a tablecloth, beach towel, sarong, summer scarf or a simple bath-towel. 

This 40 x 70 inch piece will soon be available in our wholesale portfolio, in the five lustrous colors below. Enjoy!

New year, New ideas!

On this eleventh day of the new year, at Kara, we are extremely thankful for the wonderful people we have met and new work we've started over the past few weeks. I've been meaning to blog earlier, but was a bit caught up with family and travel. Here are some new products that will soon be online:

Block-printed scarves on a new weave: fresh off the looms

We have been quite busy printing some new fabrics for table linens and scarves. I've been looking forward to printing the scarves for a while, was so glad to see the creamy white yards of the scarf fabric arrive from the weavers!

Double colored block-prints on the scarves

Multicolored block-printed scarf in an ultra-soft cotton weave

Also fresh off the looms were these canvas-textured tablecloths and soft cotton napkins. The colors, patterns and textures are all new; can't wait till these are online soon!

Pastel colored tablecloth in a beautiful new weave and pattern!

Fawn, ash and tan come together for this earthy table cloth and napkin set

Bordeaux and ash with bold white stripes for another earthy toned tablecloth

Block prints at Kara!

The latest addition to our crew of block prints, these polka prints are on 100% cotton table napkins, on sale here!

New prints with a custom-carved linoleum block, on sale soon!

I've been meaning to write about our new block print collection, but have been so busy printing and shooting for the collection that almost ran out of time! So here is the update:

As this past summer drew to a close and our first promotional sale was off to a fabulous start (thank you shoppers!), we got back to the drawing board for some new directions. I've been wanting to work on surface printing for a very very long time, so I decided this was going to be the perfect opportunity to develop a new line for Kara Weaves.

Had so much fun printing this pattern for the festive collection. Printed using custom-cut rubber blocks.

I've kept the patterns geometric, keeping in mind the clean lines that we love at Kara. It obviously keeps the cutting on linoleum simpler, but I also like the textures I'm getting inside the blocks of color. Especially love seeing the natural fabric weave texture through the inks and how the colors of the print and weave interact with each other.

Detail of the print on the ZigZag table cloth, sold out but soon available in black!

I'm so thrilled to say that the first few editions are already sold out and I'm working on some new ones for next week! These lovelies are printed with non-toxic, water based inks that are heat-set for permanence. Here are some more pix of the making and product-shoot.

Some sunny bright stripes on the hair-wraps.

New Weaves!

Candy colored new stripe patterned bath towels on a super-soft new weave

As the holiday season approaches I wanted to keep you all posted on a few new things we have been developing at Kara. More specifically, about this incredibly soft new weave in cotton, that we've created. To say it feels like butter would be an understatement; on sale right here!

Check patterned towels in a soft blue

We've re-worked our all-time favorite bath towels with these delightful new candy stripes and check patterns. The first consignment from the weavers is in and looking sweet.

Candy colored table napkin sets, 15"x15"

The check pattern in black

We've also been experimenting with block-printing, as I've been mentioning on Twitter. Recently I made some prints on the new fabric and its such a delight to work with! Below are some pictures of the new block-prints on this fabric in our Tria pattern, which work really well as table-cloths.

We are still offering free shipping, so happy shopping!