KAMANIYA - “THE FABRIC FABLE”
KAMANIYA - “The Fabric Fable” is a fable which anecdotes with fabric. It is the fable of “silk” fabric which overwhelms nation all over the world. It is the home of Silk Sarees which boasts in handloom products. It also comes up with handloom Dupattas, Silk Scarves and handloom Unstitched and Semi-stitched dress materials. The brand works with silk like Tussar and Matka. It is a place where you can prettify yourself modern with Indian tradition and culture.
Silk - a fabric that has fascinated human beings all over the world is now, also an industry that promises to provide employment to hundreds of poor villagers in Bengal. Rima Dutta used to work for a Kolkata based NGO until she decided to form her own organisation to make a difference to the lives of the poor in Bengal.
Bringing in her commitment to social change, her computer skills and her training in textile designing, she started Kamaniya in 2011. Since then, there has been no looking back. Today, it employs 60 people, has a workshop and 7 handlooms and is doing its bit for the survival of traditional handloom skills that are on the verge of dying. Rima is ably supported by Subrata, her husband, who has more than 20 years’ experience as an entrepreneur in IT infrastructure.
Kamaniya, meaning ‘desirable,’ is a fashion label that highlights the spirit of Indian womanhood. It brings together the best of Indian tradition and modernity. A young venture, Kamaniya is today on its way to becoming the address for silk sarees, scarves, dupattas and unstitched dress materials in Kolkata.
Kamaniya’s business model featuring innovation and experimentation offer a golden opportunity for the traditional handloom industry, which has been on the point of dying out in Bengal, to revive itself.
Kamaniya provides carefully selected silk cocoons to katunis, village women who make silk yarn in the traditional process using the charkha, the symbol of Gandhian nationalism. They then pass on the yarn to experienced weavers, weave the silk yarn into fabric on their looms. Around thirty families are involved in this enterprise, and this provides the sole source of income for these families in the villages of Bengal. In addition to this, Kamaniya employees a number of rural women skilled in embroidery.
Kamaniya oversees the entire process from collection starting with yarn making right to distribution and export. Once the silk fabric is ready, it is brought to the workshops, where it goes through a rigorously quality-controlled process. The cloth is coloured, hand block printed and hand painted and then steamed to ensure colour fastness. Finally, it is time for the fine embellishment, after which the merchandise is ready and identifiable as a distinctive Kamaniya product. Production of silk in handloom is a dying art in Bengal because machine made silk is cheaper. By opting to concentrate on handloom, Kamaniya thus dares to swim against the tide. Handloom opens up newer possibilities of experimentation and innovation, which Kamaniya takes exploits.
Our workshops thus produce unique textures and colour combinations. The exclusivity and the fact that Kamaniya products are authentic handloom has been recognized by the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India and the label has been awarded with a handloom mark.
The brand encourages the “Make in India” movement and manufacture their products in India and is trying to increase their investment so that India transforms into global design and manufacturing hub. The handloom products of KAMANIYA are accredited by the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India and a tag has been awarded with a Handloom Mark. The products of KAMANIYA are 100% authentic and verified. KAMANIYA has its presence over different places in India such as Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi, Jaipur, Mahabaleshwar, Pune, Ranchi, Vadodara and Vizag to name a few. It ships their products worldwide and positive responses are coming from all over the world. Yet, the product is not the final goal for us at Kamaniya. The larger goal is revival of our traditional arts and adapting them to contemporary needs. We believe in equality and nurture our relationships with social organisations which work towards sustainable development of the less privileged people in India, particularly women and children. Silk is only part of our story here at Kamaniya.