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!

Updates at the store

We've been working hard to make sure the prices are fair both to our shoppers and to our producers. Due to changes in cost of production and labor at our co-op partners, some product prices are set to revise on July 1st 2013.

Watch our online store for more; meanwhile our current price will be valid till midnight June 30th (EST).

Happy shopping and thanks again for all your support!

(Marketing, Activism, Art) v/s the Audience

Yesterday I had the fun opportunity to sit in at a talk by Steve Lambert at the MIT Center for Civic Media, via Denise Cheng. I knew a bit about his work and was looking forward to this discussion on creativity, activism and the public.

He spoke about ways to engage with an audience without alienating them; how providing lots of facts about an issue can more often than not, disempower people and turn them away from engaging with you. On how narrative storytelling was one of the most powerful strategy to draw in audiences and create action.

One of Steve Lambert's most famous pieces was this "edition" of the NY Times.

These questions are something we've often thought about at Kara. I realized that we were intuitively doing some of the things mentioned in the talk. Here's how:

We care a lot about reviving and supporting the talented work of the thorthu weavers; we also care about handwoven fabrics and this long-standing tradition in our community that is quickly disappearing. 

But here's the thing: If I came to you and told you about our cause and how scary it was that this centuries old tradition was going away; you might feel some empathy towards me, but you'd be like "That's awful! But now I've gotta go walk my dog/feed my kids/go to work, etc"

On the other hand, if I came to you with our beautiful textiles and told you about how incredibly practical they are, how fun the design is, and how it is preserving a centuries-old tradition, you'd be like "Yay, I totally want some fun table linens and beach towels!". 

At the beach later, you'd think to yourself: "Oh man, this towel is so amazing! So happy I could help out these ladies with their social cause..." 

See what I just did? Got you to take part in my social cause, but without overwhelming you with the uphill task we face. You're going to need new towels and table napkins at some point; but by getting ours you not only get some stellar stuff, but also contribute you $$ meaningfully.

Its one part capitalism, one part socialism and lots of parts of ethics, love and commitment. That's our simple, un-freaky activism strategy; welcome onboard!

I chatted with Steve Lambert after the talk and the most valuable question he asked was "So say you've achieved this goal of preserving this culture, empowering this community, providing them financial stability and everything else on your list. What's next?!" 

In the past 6 months or so, we've been so caught up with new things that we haven't had time to think about this. Thanks Steve, for jump-starting our brain with this!

I'll now leave you with this amazing poem he read out:

“Utopia lies at the horizon.

When I draw nearer by two steps,

it retreats two steps.

If I proceed ten steps forward, it

swiftly slips ten steps ahead.

No matter how far I go, I can never reach it.

What, then, is the purpose of utopia? 

It is to cause us to advance.”  

-Eduardo Hughes Galeano 

xoxo, Chitra.

All things Fair

Detail of a new drawing "One Billion Waiting and Watching" by Chitra

Today is known the world over as the International Women's Day. Historically its the day when garment workers in New York city in 1857 took to the streets to demand better working conditions and pay. In some parts of the world an equal rights issue is a thing of the past, in others its very much a current issue, if not a distant dream.

We, at Kara, are not specifically a women's organization (a number of our team and co-op members are men too), but we are definitely an organization that understands the challenges women face as they manage work and their families. This Women's Day we are thinking about the rights we all enjoy as humans. And to not forget those who are denied the basic respect, equality and dignity simply on the basis of gender.

This is one of the reasons why we feel today is an important day to share this milestone with you:

Our letter of acceptance to be a member of FTF India

The Fair Trade certification is more to us than a letter and a stamp; its a visible platform where we let our collaborators know that our fabrics are not only designed with lots of care but are created ethically and respectfully. We are so proud to be a part of this group and are inspired to see how good design and fair trade practices can revive an ancient artform!

Signing off with some images from Indu's latest visit to our weaving and tailoring co-ops. Have a wonderful day!

Indu with a couple of the co-op members

Indu at the tailoring co-op with its President (right) and team member (left)

The pre-looming team at work in the co-op.

A peaceful afternoon as the yarn hangs to dry (foreground) and the pre-looming goes on (background)

IBM & Kara Weaves

What do IBM and Kara Weaves have in common? Not much, you'd think, but here is how our paths are crossing, right this instant:

In December 2010, we were contacted by Kabi Sherman of the CDC Development Solutions, an organization that facilitates social outreach programs around the world, including for the IBM Corporate Service Corps in India.

CDC contacts several organizations (like small businesses, educational institutions, NGOs, advocacy organizations, associations, local governments) working in social development areas and identifies those that are in need of management and technical assistance. They then put them through to a highly skilled group of volunteers from IBM offices around the world who visit and work with them for a period of 4 weeks to provide solutions.

Sounds too good to be true, right? When Kabi visited us, we had a long discussion of what we do and what would it take us to achieve our goals, as an organization. Here's a snapshot we took as Kabi was leaving:

From left: Kabi, Lakshmi, Indu, Sandhya and myself (Chitra).

After Kabi's visit, we worked to develop a Scope of Wrok for the IBM team and finally dialed it down to two things:
• Developing a sustainable marketing strategy including b-2-b strategies.
• Working on a Fair Trade certification for our supply chain proces.

The kickoff meeting was a few days ago; our IBM-ers are Lou Martin from Spain, Elke Heilemann from Germany and Jennifer Williams from the United States. They will be working with us at the studio for 4 weeks. A short article about this collaboration can be read on the India Infoline news website too. Just four days into the project we are already amazed by the energy the IBM team brings to our studio environment! More pictures and updates on the "cotton ladies" (as they like to call themselves) soon. We are really excited about what this month of collaboration will bring; stay tuned for more IBM news from here at Kara Weaves.

A north-south collaboration: Khamir + Kara Weaves

Design of our invite for the show together with Khamir

In 2008, a year after our collaboration with the Banyan, we got in touch with Khamir, a non-government organization from the northern state of Gujarat. Through a chance re-connection with some of her earlier collaborators while in Ahmedabad (the wonderful Sushma Iyengar), Indu heard of the wonderful work of the Khamir resouce center as a way to revitalize Kachchh's creative industries. She contacted the director Meera Goradia and learnt that they was seeking to do a sale & exhibition of their work in Bangalore with a collaborator. Upon hearing what we do, Meera asked if we would be interested: and of course we said yes!

Starting a Start-Up

Folks often ask us about how we started Kara Weaves; so here's the whole story:

Indu, myself (Chitra), Sreedevi and Revathy

We are a small hand-loom weaving project run primarily by Indu Menon and myself, Chitra. Our co-enthusiasts/ co-partners are B. Sreedevi (a hand-loom expert and dearest supporter) and Revathy Menon (a noted Indian film actress and director who is one of our most enthusiastic motivators). We did not intentionally start it as a women-only organization; the fact that we are is purely co-incidental. :) 

A constant source of encouragement for our work comes from Lakshmi Menon, who steps in as a catalyst for our brainstorming sessions, travel to the weaving centers, photo shoot, product design and our invaluable sounding board. Celine George, the Delhi-based HR professional is also someone we connect with, when developing new ideas and strategists. A.R Sathish, an entrepreneur and business professional in Kochi, was also instrumental in providing us advice when we initially started our partnership firm with a lot of insight on managing our finances and paperwork. Our spouses (Indu's and mine) have also, over the years, provided a lot of feedback and objective criticism to help our brand develop and are an integral part of our core advisory group.

One of the weavers at our local handloom weaving co-operative in Kanjiramattom

But current stories aside, how did our brand really come about to be?
 

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog! We hope this is a place for you to discover a bit about the people who run Kara Weaves with some behind-the-scenes stories. This is also a place we write about the things we love. The picture above is from the fields behind our little office in Kerala, a space we look towards for inspiration!
My name is Chitra and I am one-half of the main team at Kara Weaves. In this blog, I will be writing about how we started, the fun adventures we've had over the years at Kara and the things we are working on currently. Happy reading!