Kalamkari Fabrics (pronounced: cull-um-car-ee). When was the last time you fell in love with a piece of cloth?
Fabrics are part of one’s daily life. Their symbols and designs form an important part of an individual’s identity. Their beauty provides us a sense of aesthetic relief and relaxation after a long and tiring day. We even find ourselves curling inside them to experience the much-needed familial warmth and comfort. stay with us in times of joy and sorrow.
But our relationship with fabrics is being increasingly interfered by emotionless, lifeless and impersonal machine-made textiles. Inspired by the desire of reconnecting humans with humane-fabrics, we hope to bring to you a collection of Kalamkari fabrics-traditional hand-crafted fabrics from India, which will fill your surroundings with magical positive vibes. Our initial offering is of Kalamkari bedding sets.
Kalamkari is derived from the words ‘qalam’ (pen) and ‘kari’ (craftmanship), meaning drawing with a pen. Kalamkari uses wooden stamps to create patterns on fabric. The process of manufacture of these fabrics is a complex and time-consuming one, entailing as many as over 15 steps. The end product is a beautiful cloth, whose glow speaks of the voluminous love and effort of the craftsman.
A diamond lasts forever. So does Kalamkari.
How We Got Here
One sunny afternoon during 2020, while working from his home, Ramesh realised that his room was feeling dull despite the bright shining sunlight. Upon further deliberation, he concluded that the fabrics in his room were dull and grey, which were making him feel morose. The plain drapes, bedding, rugs and even clothes, all felt so dull and plain. Fabrics, it occurred to him, are a part of one’s identity, and therefore deserve more attention. He closed his eyes and had a vivid picture in mind of naturally dyed cotton, with airy patterns of big, single-colored motifs. These patterns, he envisaged, would surely make him happy and positive. He searched for such designs, but unable to locate such fabrics anywhere, he decided to create his own.
He found a craftsman in a tiny village in southern India. He is one of very few craftsmen who still practice the ancient art of Kalamkari-the complex printing method used to produce beautiful, positive and soothing fabrics. Ramesh experienced these fabrics, and thoroughly enjoyed them. Through this Indiegogo campaign, Ramesh hopes to share this fabric with the world.
Where We Are
Our basic stamping blocks, colors and raw cotton cloth pieces are ready. A trial batch has been manufactured, and its sales have been successful. We have sorted out our supply chain and packaging design. We are looking forward to running economical large batches, and in the long run, adding more designs and product categories.
What We Need
To be able to offer our designer cloth to the public for the incredibly competitive price we have set, we need volume. We can only produce our textiles affordably when manufacturing in large batches. We need you to help us finance our first large scale production run which will eventually help us in investing in more designs and cloth categories. We believe that our work is beautiful and is also helping preserve this ancient but dying tradition. We hope that you like our work and designs. www.indiegogo.com
