Ahmedabad, India

Sevya

Sevya works with artisan cooperatives across India, preserving centuries-old craft traditions like hand-loom weaving, block-printing, tie-dye, and embroidery.

An artisan stitches a pale textile by hand.

People gather around patterned fabric, handling and examining the cloth.

Using fine natural fibers, artisans blend eco-friendly traditional methods with contemporary styles to create fair trade clothing, scarves, and jewelry.

Two women operate a handloom, guiding colorful threads through a striped fabric.

Sustainable Technique

Handloom Weaving

Handloom weaving interlaces lengthwise threads, known as the warp, with crosswise threads, known as the weft, using a manually operated loom. Artisans control the tension and placement of the threads to create fabric in different patterns, textures, and weights, with designs and techniques varying across regional textile traditions.

An artisan presses a carved wooden block onto fabric decorated with blue patterns.

Sustainable Technique

Block Printing

In Rajasthan, India, wooden blocks are carved and used to stamp cloth with their pattern.

Women sit together stitching colorful quilted fabric by hand with needle and thread.

Sustainable Technique

Kantha

A needle and thread piercing multiple layers of recycled cloth in a running stitch - either row upon row or in a pattern or design - is called Kantha, and can be found throughout parts of India and Bangladesh.

Hands guide blue fabric and taut threads across a wooden loom during weaving.

Sustainable Technique

Batik

Batik uses wax to protect selected areas of cloth before dyeing. Removing the wax reveals the pattern, and successive wax-and-dye stages can build additional colors and detail.