October 16, 2021
This panel features the founders of three organizations who promote textile artisans in India. Each of these organizations works to preserve traditional textile techniques of India while creating contemporary apparel designs.
Arushi Chowdhury Khanna founded LoomKatha, which is a play on the Hindi word “Lok Katha” meaning “Folk Tale” – a story of the people, by the people and for the people of India. They presently work with close to 100 weavers in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Smita Paul, a former journalist, created Indigo Handloom to form a bridge from the rural weaving villages of West Bengal to the fashion world of the U.S.
Mannat and Preeti Sidhu founded Fusion Phulkari, which aims to promote Phulkari (the folk embroidery of Punjab) among the youth and a non-Punjabi audience while empowering the women who work behind-the-scenes in making of the Phulkari.