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THE BEGINNINGS
It all started with a wish to preserve and promote the beautiful handmade textiles that are slowly losing against the world that's passing by very fast! It bothered us that the handmade crafts and craftsmanship were so under valued, especially in countries like India where, survival was more important. With the passion to do something about it, we picked up our bags and went on our craft tour of India. We met many artisans and their families and saw that most of them were connected with their art as a tradition passed down from their ancestors that they also wish to pass down to their children. With such history in making of a product, it was just not possible for us not to be part of it! And thus came ichcha, or 'a wish', to live and encourage everyone to live consciously; conscious of the environment and of the value and life of the products created and sought.
MEET THE SISTERS
Rachna, with a background in computer science, left her 11 year software job before setting on the Craft Journey. She is now 100% devoted to ichcha and 100% happy with her decision. She shares all ichcha responsibilities, including design ideas with her sister Ruchika, who is the main designer of ichcha. She loves to travel; you can read great travel advice from her on the blog. Ruchika, is the main designer of ichcha. She is a textile designer and has done her Masters in Block Printing, in London. She worked under the wings of Master Block Printers in India and loved it! She was inspired to create consciously with things found in nature (flowers, tree barks, spices) and accept all mistakes that come with hand printing and natural dyeing. You'll always find her saying "it's ok - imperfections are a lovely part of nature"! Monika, a tree hugger by nature and an environmentalist by profession, has been a constant advisor of ichcha. She makes sure ichcha sources the fabrics consciously and feed no harm to the environment in any part of the process. Her advice is strong and keeps everyone in line, always!
CONSCIOUS LIVING
We work from our home studio in New York (most of the time) and then travel to India 1-2 times a year to work on our designs with the artisan families. While creating conscious products, we also want the art to stay alive not just for now, but for generations to come. And for that, we realized that the artisan themselves need to value the art that he is forgetting in the midst of surviving. So we created a collection called "ichcha for artisan". Under this collection, everything is created by the artisans - from design to production. And 100% Profits from this collection goes back to them! This effort is bringing a change, slowly but surely! You can read about our first success story on our blog and purchase these scarves here.
Ichcha for Coral Reefs
We create textiles around stories that matter and Coral Reefs is one of the stories we wanted to tell. We designed The Coral Reef Scarf to bring awareness to the Reefs. You can read about the story here - Coral Reef Scarf. 1% of our profits was donated to the Reel Life Foundation.
OUR PROCESS
Our designs are inspired from what attracts us in nature or around us. Our first collection was inspired by the architecture and the bare trees of London. It starts with a drawing on paper, then onto the software, to a hand carved block and then finally to the block printing process. You can read about our block printing process on our blog, here. All our products are consciously created. Craft Stories details all the different crafts we enjoy working with.
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